Buy - Wiktionary

See also: buy-

Translingual

[edit]

Symbol

[edit]

buy

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Mmani.

See also

[edit]

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Mmani terms

English

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

From Middle English byen, from Old English bycġan (“to buy, pay for, acquire, redeem, ransom, procure, get done, sell”), from Proto-West Germanic *buggjan, from Proto-Germanic *bugjaną (“to buy”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰūgʰ- (“to bend”), or from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewgʰ- (“to take away, deliver”).

Cognate with Scots buy (“to buy, purchase”), obsolete Dutch beugen (“to buy”), Old Saxon buggian, buggean (“to buy”), Old Norse byggja (“to build, settle”), Gothic 𐌱𐌿𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (bugjan, “to buy”). The spelling with “u” is from the Southwest, while the pronunciation with /aɪ/ is from the East Midlands.

Pronunciation

[edit]

• enPR: bī, IPA(key): /baɪ/
  • (US, Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): [baɪ]
  • (Standard Southern British) IPA(key): [bɑj]
  • (Canada) IPA(key): [baɪ]
    • (dialectal) IPA(key): [bəj]
  • (General Australian) IPA(key): [bɑɪ]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (UK); “to buy”:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪ
• Homophones: bi, bye, by

Verb

[edit]

buy (third-person singular simple present buys, present participle buying, simple past bought, past participle bought or (archaic, rare, dialectal) boughten)

1. (transitive, ditransitive) To obtain (something) in exchange for money or goods. Who'd Father buy the car for? He bought it for me, not for you.
   • 1793, Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography:Buy what thou hast no need of, and ere long thou wilt sell thy necessaries.
2. (transitive, ditransitive) To obtain, especially by some sacrifice. I've bought material comfort by foregoing my dreams. You just bought yourself an assault charge!
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 23:23:Buy the truth and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
3. (transitive, archaic) To suffer consequences for (something) through being deprived of something; to pay for (something one has done).
   • 1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], Act I:VVhat villaine, doſt ſtrike me? I ſweare by the rood,As I am Iacke Strawe, thou ſhalt buy it with thy blood.
4. (transitive) To bribe. He tried to buy me with gifts, but I wouldn't give up my beliefs.
   • 2025 May 20, Tal Axelrod, “MAGA faithful grow frustrated with Trump's Justice Department”, in Axios‎[1]:After Bongino reiterated that Epstein killed himself, he was flooded with responses of disbelief. "WHO has bought the both of you?" one X user asked of Bongino and Patel, referencing the Fox News interview.
5. (transitive) To be equivalent to in value. The dollar doesn't buy as much as it used to.
6. (transitive, informal) to accept as true; to believe Synonym: swallow I'm not going to buy your stupid excuses anymore!
   • 2020, Akwaeke Emezi, The Death of Vivek Oji, Faber & Faber Ltd, page 201:People like to say that dead people look asleep, and maybe she would have bought that under different circumstances.
7. (intransitive) To make a purchase or purchases, to treat (for a drink, meal or gift) She buys for Federated. Let's go out for dinner. I'm buying.
8. (poker slang, transitive) To make a bluff, usually a large one. Smith tried to buy the pot on the river with a huge bluff.

Conjugation

[edit] The template Template:en-conj does not use the parameter(s): present_sub=buy Please see Module:checkparams for help with this warning. Conjugation of buy

infinitive	(to) buy
present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	buy	bought
2nd-person singular	buyest2	bought, boughtest2
3rd-person singular	buys, buyeth2	bought
plural	buy	bought
subjunctive	buy	bought
imperative	buy	—
participles	buying	bought, boughten2

1 Dialectal. 2 Archaic.

Alternative forms

[edit]

• buie (archaic)

Synonyms

[edit]

• (obtain in exchange for money): cheap (obsolete), purchase
• (accept as true): accept, believe, swallow (informal), take on
• ((intransitive) make a purchase): make a buy

Antonyms

[edit]

• (antonym(s) of “obtain in exchange for money”): cheap (obsolete), sell, vend
• (antonym(s) of “accept as true”): disbelieve, reject, pitch

Derived terms

[edit] Terms derived from buy (verb)

• bought and paid for
• bought priesthood
• bring-and-buy
• bring-and-buy sale
• buyability
• buyable
• buy a dog and bark oneself
• buy and pay for
• buy a pup
• buy a ticket to
• buy back
• buy-back
• buy-bust
• buycott
• buy-down
• buy down
• buyer
• buy in
• buy-in
• buying guide
• buying power
• buying temperature
• buy into
• buy it
• buy low, sell high
• buy off
• buy-off
• buy off on
• buy-out
• buy out
• buy out from under
• buy over
• buy side
• buy someone off
• buy someone out
• buy some time
• buy stop order
• buy straw hats in winter
• buy the big one
• buy the dip
• buy the dips
• buy the farm
• buy the rabbit
• buy the rack
• buy the same horse twice
• buy time
• buy-to-let
• buy to let
• buy-to-play
• buy up
• buyup
• buyware
• buy when it snows and sell when it goes
• buy when it snows, sell when it goes
• buy with one's ears
• buy wolf tickets
• buy woof tickets
• buy yourself a hat
• can I buy you a drink
• collective buying
• cross-buy
• don't buy green bananas
• forbuy
• forebuy
• group buying
• I don't want to buy anything
• impulse buy
• impulse-buy
• leveraged buy-out
• money can't buy happiness
• multibuy
• must-buy
• outbuy
• overbuy
• panic-bought
• panic-buy
• prebuy
• rebuy
• shop-bought
• store-bought
• that and a nickel will buy you a cup of coffee
• unbuy
• underbuy
• vote buying
• why buy a book when you can join a library
• why buy a book when you can join the library
• why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free

Related terms

[edit]

• aby

Descendants

[edit]

• Sranan Tongo: bai
• Tok Pisin: baim

Translations

[edit] to obtain something with money

Abkhaz: аахәара (aaxʷara) Afrikaans: koop (af) Aghwan: 𐔸𐕒𐔲𐕒𐕡𐕆𐔴𐕍𐔴𐕚𐕒𐕡𐕎 (toguheq̇esun) Ahom: 𑜏𑜢𑜤𑜈𑜫 (süw) Ainu: ホㇰ (hok) Akan: tɔ Aklanon: bakae Albanian: blej (sq) Amharic: መግዛት (mägzat) Apache: Western Apache: nahiʼdiih Arabic: اِشْتَرَى (ar) (ištarā) Egyptian Arabic: اشترى (ištarā) Hijazi Arabic: اَشْترى (aštara) Moroccan Arabic: شرى (šra) South Levantine Arabic: اشترى (ištara), شرى (šara) Aragonese: crompar Aramaic: Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܙܵܒ݂ܹܢ (zawen) Armenian: գնել (hy) (gnel), առնել (hy) (aṙnel) Aromanian: acumpãr Assamese: কিনা (kina) Asturian: mercar, comprar Avar: бичун босизе (bičun bosize) Azerbaijani: almaq (az) Bangi: somba Bashkir: һатып алыу (hatıp alıw), алыу (alıw) Basque: erosi (eu) Belait: melei Belarusian: купля́ць impf (kupljácʹ), купі́ць pf (kupícʹ) Bengali: কেনা (bn) (kena) Bhojpuri: किनल (kinal) Breton: prenañ (br) Brunei Bisaya: mali Brunei Malay: bali Bulgarian: купу́вам (bg) impf (kupúvam), ку́пя pf (kúpja) Burmese: ဝယ် (my) (wai) Catalan: comprar (ca) Cebuano: palit Central Atlas Tamazight: ⵙⵖ (sɣ), ⴰⵖ (aɣ) Central Dusun: boli Chechen: эца (eca) Chichewa: kugúla Chinese: Cantonese: 買 / 买 (maai5) Dungan: мэ (me) Hokkien: 買 / 买 (bóe / bé / mái) Mandarin: 買 / 买 (zh) (mǎi) Chuukese: kamö Cornish: prena Corsican: cumprà (co) Crimean Tatar: satın almaq Czech: kupovat (cs) impf, koupit (cs) pf Danish: købe (da) Dutch: kopen (nl), aanschaffen (nl), aankopen (nl) Edo: dẹ Elfdalian: tjyöpa Esperanto: aĉeti (eo) Estonian: ostma Evenki: гами (gami) Farefare: da Faroese: keypa Finnish: ostaa (fi) Franco-Provençal: achetar French: acheter (fr) Friulian: comprâ Galician: mercar (gl), comprar (gl) Georgian: ყიდვა (q̇idva) German: kaufen (de) Gilaki: هین (he:n) Gothic: 𐌱𐌿𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (bugjan) Greek: αγοράζω (el) (agorázo) Ancient Greek: ἀγοράζω (agorázō), ὠνέομαι (ōnéomai) Greenlandic: sivoq Gujarati: ખરીદવું (kharīdvũ) Haitian Creole: achte Hausa: sáyṓ Hawaiian: kūʻai Hebrew: קָנָה (he) (kaná) Higaonon: palit Hindi: क्रय (hi) (kray), ख़रीदना (xarīdnā), कीनना (hi) (kīnnā) Hungarian: vásárol (hu), vesz (hu) Ibanag: gatang Icelandic: kaupa (is) Ido: komprar (io) Ilocano: gumatang, manggatang, gatangen Indonesian: membeli (id) Ingrian: ostaa, lunastaa, lunata Ingush: эца (eca) Interlingua: comprar, emer Irish: ceannaigh Isan: ซื้อ Isnag: xatang Isoko: dẹ Istriot: cunprà Italian: comprare (it), comperare (it) (desueto), acquistare (it) Iu Mien: maaiz Ivatan: manadiw Japanese: 買う (ja) (かう, kau), 購入する (ja) (こうにゅうする, kōnyū suru) Javanese: tuku (jv), tumbas, mundhut (jv) Jeju: 사다 (sada) Kabyle: ⴰⵖ (aɣ) Kaingang: kajãm Kambera: kei Kapampangan: sali, sumali Kazakh: сатып алу (kk) (satyp alu) Khiamniungan Naga: tùh, tùh Khmer: ទិញ (km) (tɨñ) Khün: ᨪᩨ᩶ Kongo: kusumba Korean: 사다 (ko) (sada), 구입하다 (ko) (gu'iphada) Kumyk: алмакъ (almaq) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: کڕین (ckb) (krrîn) Northern Kurdish: kirîn (ku), standin (ku) Kyrgyz: сатып алуу (ky) (satıp aluu) Ladin: comprer Lao: ຊື້ (sư̄) Latgalian: pierkt Latin: emō (la), sūmō (la) Latvian: pirkt (lv), nopirkt Ligurian: acatâ Lingala: somba Lithuanian: pirkti (lt) Lombard: crompâ Low German: German Low German: köpen (nds) Lü: ᦌᦹᧉ (sue²) Luxembourgish: kafen Macedonian: ку́пува impf (kúpuva), купи pf (kupi) Malay: beli (ms) Maltese: xtara Manchu: ᡠᡩᠠᠮᠪᡳ (udambi) Mansaka: bili Maori: hoko (with indicator mai) Mokilese: dupukda Mongolian: Cyrillic: авах (mn) (avax), худалдаж авах (xudaldaž avax) Moore: ra Nanai: гаори (gaori) Navajo: nayiiłniih Neapolitan: accattà Nepali: किन्नु (ne) (kinnu) Ngazidja Comorian: uhula Norman: acater (Jersey), acataer (continental Normandy) North Frisian: (Föhr-Amrum) kuupe Northern Thai: ᨪᩨ᩶ Norwegian: Bokmål: kjøpe (no) Nynorsk: kjøpa, kjøpe Occitan: crompar (oc) Ojibwe: adaawen Okinawan: 買ーゆん (kōyun), 買ーいん (kōin) Old English: bycgan, ceapian Old Norse: kaupa, byggja Old Saxon: buggian Oromo: bituu Ossetian: ӕлхӕнын (ælxænyn) Ottoman Turkish: آلمق (almak), اشترا ایتمك (iştira etmek) Pannonian Rusyn: куповац impf (kupovac), купиц pf (kupic) Papiamentu: kumpra Paraguayan Guarani: (please verify) jogua Pashto: پېرل (ps) (perël), پېرودل (ps) (perowdël) Persian: Dari: خَرِیدَن (fa) (xarīdan) Iranian Persian: خَریدَن (fa) (xaridan) Polish: kupować (pl) impf, kupić (pl) pf, nabywać (pl) impf, nabyć (pl) pf Portuguese: comprar (pt), adquirir (pt) Punjabi: Gurmukhi: ਖ਼ਰੀਦਣਾ (xarīdṇā) Quechua: rantiy (qu), rantii Romani: kinel Romanian: cumpăra (ro) Romansch: cumprar, cumprer Russian: покупа́ть (ru) impf (pokupátʹ), купи́ть (ru) pf (kupítʹ) Sami: Northern Sami: oastit Samoan: faʻatau Samogitian: pėrktė Sanskrit: क्रीणाति (sa) (krīṇāti) Sardinian: comparai, comporai, comporare, cumporai, comprai Scottish Gaelic: ceannaich Semai: belik Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: купо̀вати impf, ку́пити pf, покупо̀вати pf Roman: kupòvati (sh) impf, kúpiti (sh) pf, pokupòvati (sh) pf Shan: သိုဝ်ႉ (shn) (sṵ̂e) Sicilian: accattari (scn), cumprari (scn) Sindhi: خريد ڪرڻ (xred krṇ) Sinhalese: ගන්නවා (si) (gannawā) Slovak: kupovať impf, kúpiť (sk) pf Slovene: kupovati impf, kupiti (sl) pf Somali: gado, iibso Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: kupowaś impf, kupiś pf Upper Sorbian: kupować (hsb) impf, kupić pf Sotho: reka (st) Spanish: comprar (es), mercar (es) Sundanese: meuli (su), mésér, ngagaleuh Swahili: kununua (sw) Swedish: köpa (sv) Tagalog: bili (tl), bilhin, bumili Tahitian: hoʻo (with indicator mai) Tai Dam: ꪏꪳ꫁ Tai Nüa: ᥔᥪᥳ (su̇e) Tajik: харидан (tg) (xaridan) Tamil: வாங்கு (ta) (vāṅku) Tatar: сатып алырга (satıp alırğa) Tausug: bii Tetum: sosa Thai: ซื้อ (th) (sʉ́ʉ) Tibetan: ཉོས (nyos), གཟིགས (gzigs) (honorific) Tocharian B: käry- Tongan: fakatau Tumbuka: gula Turkish: satın almak (tr), sakmak (tr), almak (tr) Turkmen: satyn almak Tutong: meli Tuvan: садып алыр (sadıp alır) Ukrainian: купува́ти (uk) impf (kupuváty), купи́ти pf (kupýty) Urdu: مول لینا (mol lenā), خَرِیدْنا (xarīdnā) Urhobo: dẹ Uyghur: سېتىۋالماق (sëtiwalmaq) Uzbek: sotib olmoq Venetan: cronpar, conprar Vietnamese: mua (vi) Walloon: atchter (wa) Waray-Waray: palit, balyo Welsh: prynu (cy) West Coast Bajau: beli West Frisian: keape, keapje White Hmong: yuav Yaghnobi: хиринак (xirinak) Yiddish: קויפֿן (koyfn) Yoruba: rà Zhuang: cawx

to accept as true

Albanian: blej (sq) Bashkir: ышаныу (ışanıw) Chinese: Mandarin: 買賬 / 买账 (zh) (mǎizhàng) Czech: baštit (cs), žrát (cs), skočit (cs), sbaštit i s navijákem Dutch: slikken (nl) Finnish: niellä (fi), uskoa (fi) French: gober (fr) German: abkaufen (de), abnehmen (de) Greek: χάβω (el) (chávo), χάφτω (el) (cháfto) Hindi: मानना (hi) (mānnā) Hungarian: bevesz (hu) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: pejirandin (ku), qebûl kirin Luxembourgish: ofhuelen Norwegian: Bokmål: kjøpe (no) Portuguese: engolir (pt) Russian: ве́рить (ru) impf (véritʹ), пове́рить (ru) pf (povéritʹ), ха́вать (ru) impf (xávatʹ) (slang), сха́вать (ru) pf (sxávatʹ) (slang) Serbo-Croatian: Roman: prihvatiti (sh) Slovak: naletieť Spanish: creer (es), comprar (es) Swahili: nunua (sw) Swedish: köpa (sv) Turkish: yemek (tr)

to treat

Spanish: convidar (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations. Translations to be checked

Vietnamese: (please verify) mua (vi), (please verify) trã bằng giá, (please verify) đạt được, (please verify) được (vi), (please verify) mua chuộc (vi), (please verify) đút lót (vi), (please verify) hối lộ (vi), (please verify) sự mua, (please verify) vật mua

Noun

[edit]

buy (plural buys)

1. Something which is bought; a purchase. At only $30, the second-hand kitchen table was a great buy.

Antonyms

[edit]

• sale

Derived terms

[edit]

• buy boat
• buy-bust
• buydown
• buyout
• buyrate
• impulse buy

Translations

[edit] purchase — see purchase

References

[edit]

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “buy”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “buy”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

[edit]

• BYU

Chinese

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

From English buy.

Pronunciation

[edit]

• Cantonese (Jyutping): baai1

• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)+
    • Jyutping: baai1
    • Yale: bāai
    • Cantonese Pinyin: baai1
    • Guangdong Romanization: bai1
    • Sinological IPA (key): /paːi̯⁵⁵/

Verb

[edit]

buy

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) to accept (an idea)
   • 2001, 尋秦記 [A Step into the Past], episode 1, spoken by 麥偉健 (麥長青 [Evergreen Mak Cheung-ching]): 收聲呀，我唔buy你呀。 [Hong Kong Cantonese, trad.]收声呀，我唔buy你呀。 [Hong Kong Cantonese, simp.]sau1 seng1 aa3, ngo5 m4 baai1 nei5 aa3. [Jyutping]Shut up. I'm not buying your [suggestion].

Scots

[edit]

Alternative forms

[edit]

• beh (Dundee)

Etymology

[edit]

From Old English bycgan.

Pronunciation

[edit]

• IPA(key): (unstressed) [bəi], (stressed) [baɪ]

Verb

[edit]

buy (third-person singular simple present buys, present participle buyin, simple past and past participle bocht)

1. buy

Tatar

[edit]

Noun

[edit]

buy

1. length

Wolof

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

Related to guy (“baobab tree”).

Noun

[edit]

buy (definite form buy bi)

1. baobab fruit
2. sweet drink made of this fruit by adding water, sugar, milk, and other ingredients