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Added 9 October 2026

guy

/ɡaɪ/ noun

Categories: PeopleThingsEveryday Words

In Latin: none, coined in 1570 Coined: 1570, by Guy Fawkes Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about guy at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

  1. An effigy of a man burned on a bonfire on the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot (5th November).
  2. A person of eccentric appearance or dress; a "fright".
  3. A man or boy; a fellow.

verb

  1. To exhibit an effigy of Guy Fawkes around the 5th November.
  2. To make fun of, to ridicule with wit or innuendo.

noun

  1. A guide; a leader or conductor.
  2. A support rope or cable used to aid in hoisting or lowering.
  3. A support to secure or steady structures prone to shift their position or be carried away (e.g. the mast of a ship, a suspension bridge, or a utility pole).

verb

  1. To equip with a support cable.

Origin

Coined by semantic widening from the name of Guy Fawkes (1570–1606), an English Catholic executed for his role in the Gunpowder Plot, which also came to refer to effigies of his image burned annually on Guy Fawkes Night. The name Guy is 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. Cognate with Italian Guido. Doublet of guido.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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