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Guy.

A male given name from the Germanic languages.

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

name/ɡaɪ/

  1. A male given name from the Germanic languages.

  2. A surname originating as a patronymic.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ Proto-Indo-European *dwi- Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- Proto-Indo-European *h₁weydʰh₁- Proto-Indo-European *-us Proto-Indo-European *(h₁)wéydʰ(h₁)us Proto-Germanic *widuz Proto-West Germanic *widu Proto-Indo-European *-ō Proto-Germanic *-ô Proto-West Germanic *-ō Frankish *Widōbor. Medieval Latin *Widō Old French Guibor. English Guy From Old French Gui, from a Frankish form of Proto-West Germanic *Widō (compare Old Dutch Wido), a short form of names beginning with the element *widu (“wood”), from Proto-Germanic *widuz; see for example modern German Witold and Old Saxon Widukind. Cognate with Italian Guido and thus a doublet of Guido. More at wood.

noun/ɡaɪ/

  1. An effigy of Guy Fawkes burned on Bonfire Night

    UK
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ Proto-Indo-European *dwi- Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- Proto-Indo-European *h₁weydʰh₁- Proto-Indo-European *-us Proto-Indo-European *(h₁)wéydʰ(h₁)us Proto-Germanic *widuz Proto-West Germanic *widu Proto-Indo-European *-ō Proto-Germanic *-ô Proto-West Germanic *-ō Frankish *Widōbor. Medieval Latin *Widō Old French Guibor. English Guy From Old French Gui, from a Frankish form of Proto-West Germanic *Widō (compare Old Dutch Wido), a short form of names beginning with the element *widu (“wood”), from Proto-Germanic *widuz; see for example modern German Witold and Old Saxon Widukind. Cognate with Italian Guido and thus a doublet of Guido. More at wood.

name/ɡaɪ/

  1. A male given name from Hebrew.

  2. A surname.

Where this word comes from

From the Hebrew name גַּיְא (gáy, literally “valley”), with the spelling influenced by the existing English name.

name/ɡaɪ/

  1. A place in the United States: A minor city in Faulkner County, Arkansas.

  2. A place in the United States: An unincorporated community in Liberty Township, Howard County, Indiana.

  3. A place in the United States: An unincorporated community in Warren County, Kentucky.

  4. A place in the United States: An unincorporated community in Fort Bend County, Texas.

  5. A hamlet in the Municipal District of Smoky River, No. 130, Alberta, Canada.

Where this word comes from

For places which could be from either etymology above.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.