Origin of word key

I received a question whether I was going to write about the word key in the series on our habitat. I didn’t have such an intention, but, since someone is interested in this matter, I’ll gladly change my plans and satisfy the curiosity of our friend. A detailed and highly technical entry on key can be found in my introduction to an etymological dictionary of English, and in this blog, I usually try not to repeat the information given elsewhere in my published works. But in the present case, I have an excuse. My dictionary can be found in many college libraries, but despite the presence of some risky words in its text and the many shadows it casts it is unable to compete (as regards sales and its appeal to the film industry) with Fifty Shades of Grey. Since, presumably, neither our correspondent nor most of our readers have seen the dictionary, I will briefly discuss the history of key as I understand it. Moreover, I will devote a follow-up post to latches. It would be nice to call the forthcoming miniseries “Nuts and Bolts,” but all I can offer is “Keys and Bolts from an Etymological Point of View.”

Key has been known from texts since the year 1000. Yet dictionaries refuse to say anything definite about its distant origin. The reason for specialists’ extreme caution is not far to seek. In most cases, a word for key means “opener” or “closer” (in the remote past, different tools were sometimes used for locking and unlocking the door), but key cannot be associated with any word meaning “open” or “close.” Desperate attempts to derive key from Latin clavis “key” by eliminating l (claudo means “shut, close”) were obviously doomed to failure. However, they did not lose their attraction even in the second half of the nineteenth century. Equally futile were the references to Engl. quay (from French, from Celtic) and to Welsh cau “close; clasp, etc.” Several unpromising hypotheses should not delay us here. A serious complication consists in the fact that key lacks indubitable cognates except kaei “key” in Frisian (the old forms and numerous variants in Frisian dialects have also been recorded), for in the absence of related words it is usually impossible to draw any conclusions in etymology.

However, one can be fairly certain that the etymon that yielded Engl. key sounded as *kaigjo– (j stands for what would be y in Modern English), and this form excludes many tempting comparisons, because the only solid basis in our search is phonetics. German and Dutch scholars have more than once tried to connect Engl. key and German Kegel “skittle, ninepin,” but the match is unsatisfactory; consequently, this path leads nowhere. Kegel and most other words that have been used in the hope to shed light on the derivation of key have another flaw: their origin is equally debatable and sometimes unknown. I have often referred to the rule of thumb that should be applied to etymology (although it is of my own devising, its strict application guarantees success): never use an obscure word to explain another word whose history is obscure. I am unaware of a single example in which those who juggled with several opaque forms arrived at viable results. Another rule I always use may appear too vague and even unfair, but it too is useful: “The more convoluted an explanation is, the greater the chance that it is wrong.” Several conjectures concerning the etymology of key by eminent researchers are so involved that their uselessness could be predicted.

Now is the time to provide a clue to key. In addition to the noun key, English has the adjective key “twisted,” as in key–legged “knock-kneed, crooked,” at present known only in northern British dialects, and even there sometimes obsolescent. The verb key means “to twist, to bend.” Those regional words seem to have come to English from Scandinavian. In Swedish dialects, kaja “left hand” occurs. It is allied to Danish regional kei “left-hand”; in the Danish Standard, the corresponding adjective is kejtet. Old Icelandic keikja “bend back” belongs here too. The left side is often looked upon as weak and deficient. “Left” interpreted as “bent, twisted, crooked” is a common occurrence.

The most primitive keys, when they were keys rather than bars, had bits. In many languages, the root of the word for “key” means “curvature.” Wattle doors of the ancient speakers of Germanic had openings in the front wall. They were not real doors and did not need elaborate locks. Their function was to keep the cattle from entering some quarters rather than saving the house from burglars. Laws against thieves were severe. I believe that Engl. key, both the noun and the adjective, goes back to the same source and belongs with the Scandinavian words cited above. Key, it appears, designated a stick, a pin, or a peg with a twisted end. It must have been a northern word from the start. The modern pronunciation of key (unpredictably, key rhymes with see, rather than say) may be of northern origin as well.

Before the Scandinavian noun was borrowed, Old English, quite naturally, had a native word for “key.” It was scyttel ~ scyttels, allied to the verb sceotan “to shoot.” Its disappearance may have been due to the noun’s broad range of senses: scyttel also meant “dart, arrow, missile” (that is, anything that could be shot). However, its modern reflex is shuttle! The Old Frisian word was probably likewise a loan from Scandinavian. Perhaps the borrowing happened at the epoch vaguely referred to as Anglo-Frisian. The Old English form of the word key behaved in a strange way; it could be masculine or feminine, and it vacillated between the so-called strong and weak declensions. All this might be the consequence of the fact that key was a guest in the language and people were not quite sure of its grammatical categories. For the sake of historical justice I should add that E. Magnusen almost guessed the source of key as early as 1882, but he was led astray by his idea that key is a congener of akimbo.

If my reconstruction is correct, the word came to English very early, and one wonders why it did not turn up in texts before the year 1000. Possibly, key was first known only in the north and spread to southern dialects much later. Even if both English and Frisian borrowed the word from their northern neighbors, its source in English was hardly Frisian; a Frisian loan would have taken less time to reach Wessex, whose dialect of Old English we know especially well.

But why was the word borrowed? Probably the Scandinavians had keys whose construction differed from those the Angles and Northumbrians used. Here we enter the sphere of “Words and Things,” an indispensable field for the etymologist, but we don’t know enough about the keys of medieval England to offer an intelligent guess. I find my view of key fairly reasonable. So far, it has met with neither approval nor disapproval, but the wheels of etymological lexicography grind slowly, and I have nowhere to hurry.

Key in place names like Key West is an entirely different word. It is an adaptation of Spanish cayo “shoal, rock, etc.”

English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kē, IPA^(key): /kiː/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ki/
• IPA^(key): [kʲʰi̞i̯], (rare) [cʰi̞i̯]
• Rhymes: -iː
• Homophones: cay, ki, quay

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English keye, kaye, keiȝe, from Old English cǣġ (“key, solution, experiment”) (whence also Scots key and kay (“key”)), of uncertain origin.^[1] The only sure cognates are Saterland Frisian Koai (“key”), West Frisian kaai (“key”), and North Frisian kay (“key”). Possibly from Proto-Germanic *kēgaz, *kēguz (“stake, post, pole”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵogʰ-, *ǵegʰ-, *ǵegʰn- (“branch, stake, bush”), which would make it cognate with Middle Low German kāk (“whipping post, pillory”), and perhaps to Middle Dutch keige (“javelin, spear”) and Middle Low German keie, keige (“spear”). For the semantic development, note that medieval keys were simply long poles (ending in a hook) with which a crossbar obstructing a door from the inside could be removed from the outside, by lifting it through a hole in the door. Liberman has noted, however, «The original meaning of *kaig-jo- was presumably ‘*pin with a twisted end.’ Words with the root *kai- followed by a consonant meaning ‘crooked, bent; twisted’ are common only in the North Germanic languages.»^[2]

Noun[edit]

key (plural keys)

1. An object designed to open and close a lock.

   • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 13, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients:

     We tiptoed into the house, up the stairs and along the hall into the room where the Professor had been spending so much of his time. ‘Twas locked, of course, but the Deacon man got a big bunch of keys out of his pocket and commenced to putter with the lock.

2. An object designed to fit between two other objects (such as a shaft and a wheel) in a mechanism and maintain their relative orientation.
3. A crucial step or requirement.

   The key to solving this problem is persistence.

   the key to winning a game

   • who keeps the keys of all the creeds

4. A guide explaining the symbols or terminology of a map or chart; a legend.

   The key says that A stands for the accounting department.

5. A guide to the correct answers of a worksheet or test.

   Some students cheated by using the answer key.

6. (computing) One of several small, usually square buttons on a typewriter or computer keyboard, mostly corresponding to text characters.

   Press the Escape key.

7. (music)
   1. In musical instruments, one of the valve levers used to select notes, such as a lever opening a hole on a woodwind.
   2. In instruments with a keyboard such as an organ or piano, one of the levers, or especially the exposed front end of it, which are depressed to cause a particular sound or note to be produced.
8. (music) A scale or group of pitches constituting the basis of a musical composition.

   the key of B-flat major

   • 1881, R.L. Stevenson, Virginibus Puerisque:

     A girl, it is true, has always lived in a glass house among reproving relatives, whose word was law; she has been bred up to sacrifice her judgments and take the key submissively from dear papa; and it is wonderful how swiftly she can change her tune into the husband’s.

   1. The lowest note of a scale; keynote.
   2. In musical theory, the total melodic and harmonic relations, which exist between the tones of an ideal scale, major or minor; tonality.
   3. In musical theory and notation, the tonality centering in a given tone, or the several tones taken collectively, of a given scale, major or minor.
   4. In musical notation, a sign at the head of a staff indicating the musical key.
9. (figurative) The general pitch or tone of a sentence or utterance.
   • ?, William Cowper, Conversation

     You fall at once into a lower key.

10. (advertising) A modification of an advertisement so as to target a particular group or demographic.
    • 1998, Mail Order Success Secrets

      Another popular way to key ads and mailings is to use a suite number, room number, department number, desk number, etc. as part of the ordering address. With a classified ad, using such a key may increase your ad cost.

11. (botany) An indehiscent, one-seeded fruit furnished with a wing, such as the fruit of the ash and maple; a samara.
12. (historical) A manual electrical switching device primarily used for the transmission of Morse code.
14. (cryptography) A piece of information (e.g., a password or passphrase) used to encode or decode a message or messages.
15. (Internet) A password restricting access to an IRC channel.
    • 2000, «Robert Erdec», Re: Help; mIRC32; unable to resolve server arnes.si (on newsgroup alt.irc.mirc)

      if you know someone who is in the channel, you can query them and ask for the key.

16. (databases) In a relational database, a field used as an index into another table (not necessarily unique).
17. (computing) A value that uniquely identifies an entry in a container.
18. (basketball) The free-throw lane together with the circle surrounding the free-throw line, the free-throw lane having formerly been narrower, giving the area the shape of a skeleton key hole.

    He shoots from the top of the key.

19. (biology) A series of logically organized groups of discriminating information which aims to allow the user to correctly identify a taxon.
20. (architecture) A piece of wood used as a wedge.
21. (architecture) The last board of a floor when laid down.
22. (masonry) A keystone.
23. That part of the plastering which is forced through between the laths and holds the rest in place.
24. (rail transport) A wooden support for a rail on the bullhead rail system.
25. The degree of roughness, or retention ability of a surface to have applied a liquid such as paint, or glue.

    The door panel should be sanded down carefully to provide a good key for the new paint.

26. (cartomancy) The thirty-third card of the Lenormand deck.
27. (print and film) The black ink layer, especially in relation to the three color layers of cyan, magenta, and yellow. See also CMYK.
28. (computer graphics, television) A color to be masked or made transparent.
    • 2004, Mark Schmidt, Simon Robinson, Microsoft Visual C# .NET 2003 Developer’s Cookbook (page 195)

      You can easily create this type of user interface by creating a bitmap with certain portions set to a predefined color you want to use as the transparency key.

    • 2016, Jerry C. Whitaker, The SBE Broadcast Engineering Handbook:

      There are key controls that adjust the “slice level” or the level at which the key kicks-in and starts cutting a hole for the “fill” […] Chroma key is another form of keying, which derives the key cutter or hole from a selected color.

Hyponyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

[edit]

Translations[edit]

See also[edit]

Adjective[edit]

key (comparative more key, superlative most key)

1. Indispensable, supremely important.

   He is the key player on his soccer team.

   • 2007, Mark H. Moss, Shopping as an Entertainment Experience (page 46)

     Lukas intimates that one of Disney’s key attractions was «Main Street USA,” which «mimicked a downtown business district just as Southdale» had done.

   • 2014 October 14, David Malcolm, “The Great War Re-Remembered: Allohistory and Allohistorical Fiction”, in Martin Löschnigg; Marzena Sokolowska-Paryz, editors, The Great War in Post-Memory Literature and Film‎^[1], Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG., →ISBN, page 173:

     The question of the plausibility of the counter-factual is seen as key in all three discussions of allohistorical fiction (as it is in Demandt’s and Ferguson’s examinations of allohistory) (cf. Rodiek 25–26; Ritter 15–16; Helbig 32).
2. Important, salient.

   She makes several key points.

   • 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion‎^[2]:

     Throughout the 1500s, the populace roiled over a constellation of grievances of which the forest emerged as a key focal point. The popular late Middle Ages fictional character Robin Hood, dressed in green to symbolize the forest, dodged fines for forest offenses and stole from the rich to give to the poor. But his appeal was painfully real and embodied the struggle over wood.

   • 2011 September 29, Jon Smith, “Tottenham 3 — 1 Shamrock Rovers”, in BBC Sport‎^[3]:

     With the north London derby to come at the weekend, Spurs boss Harry Redknapp opted to rest many of his key players, although he brought back Aaron Lennon after a month out through injury.

Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

key (third-person singular simple present keys, present participle keying, simple past and past participle keyed)

1. To fit (a lock) with a key.
2. To fit (pieces of a mechanical assembly) with a key to maintain the orientation between them.
3. To mark or indicate with a symbol indicating membership in a class.
   • 1996 January, Garden Dsign Ideas, second printing, Taunton Press, →ISBN, page 25,

     So I worked on a tissue-paper copy of the perimeter plan, outlining groupings of plants of the same species and keying them with letters for the species.

   • 2001, Bruce M. Metzger, The Bible in Translation, →ISBN, page 87:

     The volume closes with thirty pages of «Notes, critical and explanatory,» in which Thomson provides seventy-six longer or shorter notes keyed to specific sections of the synopsis.

   • 2002, Karen Bromley, Stretching Students’ Vocabulary, →ISBN, page 12:

     Talk about similarities between the words and write them below to the left of the anchor, keying them with a plus sign (+). Talk about the characteristics that set the words apart and list them below the box to the right, keying them with a tilde sign (~).

   • 2007, Stephen Blake Mettee, Michelle Doland, and Doris Hall, compilers, The American Directory of Writer’s Guidelines, 6th («2007–2008») edition, →ISBN, page 757,

     Indicate the comparative value of each heading by keying it with a number in pencil, in the left margin, as follows: […]

4. (telegraphy and radio telegraphy) To depress (a telegraph key).
5. (radio) To operate (the transmitter switch of a two-way radio).
6. (computing) (more usually to key in) To enter (information) by typing on a keyboard or keypad.

   Our instructor told us to key in our user IDs.

7. (colloquial) To vandalize (a car, etc.) by scratching with an implement such as a key.

   He keyed the car that had taken his parking spot.

8. To link (as one might do with a key or legend).
   • 1960, Richard L. Masland, «Classification of the Epilepsies», in Epilepsia, volume 1, page 516,

     The American Heart Association has prepared their own guide to classification and, keying it with the Standard Nomenclature of Diseases, have done much to encourage a concise yet complete diagnosis.

   • 1976, Nicholas Askounes Ashford, Crisis in the Workplace: Occupational Disease and Injury‎^[4], page 19:

     The workman’s compensation system rests on incentives (premium payments) that are keyed to the immediate and relatively undeniable nature of injuries; […]

   • 2006, Deborah Blum, Mary Knudson and Robin Marantz Henig, A Field Guide for Science Writers: The Official Guide of the National Association of Science Writers‎^[5], page 63:

     It also features special issues on «Live Longer, Better, Wiser,» men’s health, women’s health, and issues keyed to important «disease weeks.»

9. (intransitive, biology, chiefly taxonomy) To be identified as a certain taxon when using a key.
10. (advertising, transitive) To modify (an advertisement) so as to target a particular group or demographic.
    • 1936, John Freeman Pyle, Marketing Principles, Organization and Policies (page 711)

      Keying advertisements and counting the number of inquiries received or the number of coupons returned to indicate the «pulling power» of a particular piece of copy or the coverage of a particular advertising medium.

    • 1998, Mail Order Success Secrets

      Another popular way to key ads and mailings is to use a suite number, room number, department number, desk number, etc. as part of the ordering address. With a classified ad, using such a key may increase your ad cost. Why? Because you’re using an extra word or two to key the ad.

11. To attune to; to set at; to pitch.
12. To fasten or secure firmly; to fasten or tighten with keys or wedges.

    • 1744, Roger North, The Life of the Honourable Sir Dudley North:

      they Mouldered and keyed the Portico Arches with Pieces of Stone, because Brick was not strong enough

13. To prepare for plastering by adding the key (that part of the plastering which is forced through between the laths and holds the rest in place).

Derived terms[edit]

• key in
• key off
• key out
• keyed up

Translations[edit]

References[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Variant of cay, from Spanish cayo, from Taíno cayo (“small island”)

Alternative forms[edit]

• cay

Noun[edit]

key (plural keys)

1. One of a string of small islands.

   the Florida Keys

Derived terms[edit]

• Florida Keys
• Key West
• Long Key

Translations[edit]

Etymology 3[edit]

Noun[edit]

key (plural keys)

1. Alternative form of quay.

Etymology 4[edit]

Abbreviating kilogram, via kilo.

Noun[edit]

key (plural keys)

1. (slang) Clipping of kilogram (especially of a recreational drug)

   Synonym: kay

   • 2010, David J. Silas, Da Block (page 41)

     So starting with ten keys of cocaine and two keys of heroin, Derrick put his plan in motion. Soon every major drug dealer and gang chief from Chicago Avenue to Evanston was in his pocket.

Anagrams[edit]

• Kye, kye

Central Kurdish[edit]

Adverb[edit]

key

1. when

Chinese[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Probably from English chromakey.

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

key

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, slightly dated) to alter an image by superimposing another image onto it

   今日佢冇嚟影班相，唯有之後key返佢個大頭落去張相度啦。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   今日佢冇嚟影班相，唯有之后key返佢个大头落去张相度啦。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   gam¹ jat⁶ keoi⁵ mou⁵ lai⁴ jing² baan¹ soeng^6-2, wai⁴ jau⁵ zi¹ hau⁶ ki¹ faan¹ keoi⁵ go³ daai⁶ tau^4-2 lok⁶ heoi³ zoeng¹ soeng^6-2 dou⁶ laa¹. [Jyutping]

   He did not came today for the class photo taking. The only way [to solve this] is to photoshop his face back onto the class photo.

Derived terms[edit]

See also[edit]

• 啱key

Manx[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From a respelling of kay, from Middle Irish ceó (“mist, milk, cream”), from Old Irish ceó (“mist, fog”).

Noun[edit]

key m (genitive singular [please provide], plural [please provide])

1. cream

Derived terms[edit]

• key blinkit
• key feayr
• key riojey, key riojit

Etymology 2[edit]

From English quay.

Noun[edit]

key m (genitive singular keyee)

1. (nautical) quay

Mutation[edit]

Manx mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
key	chey	gey
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Middle English[edit]

Noun[edit]

key

1. Alternative form of keye (“key”)

• Dictionary
• K
• Key

Definitions of key word

• noun plural key a small metal instrument specially cut to fit into a lock and move its bolt. 1
• noun plural key any of various devices resembling or functioning as a key: the key of a clock. 1
• noun plural key key card. 1
• noun plural key something that affords a means of access: the key to happiness. 1
• noun plural key something that secures or controls entrance to a place: Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean. 1
• noun plural key something that affords a means of clarifying a problem. 1

Information block about the term

Origin of key

First appearance:

before 900

One of the 4% oldest English words

before 900; Middle English key(e), kay(e), Old English cǣg, cǣge; cognate with Old Frisian kei, kai

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Key

key popularity

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 99% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.

Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between «mom» and «screwdriver».

Synonyms for key

noun key

• screw — a metal fastener having a tapered shank with a helical thread, and topped with a slotted head, driven into wood or the like by rotating, especially by means of a screwdriver.
• skeleton — Anatomy, Zoology. the bones of a human or an animal considered as a whole, together forming the framework of the body.
• opener — a person or thing that opens.
• latchkey — a key for releasing a latch or springlock, especially on an outer door.
• passkey — master key.

adjective key

• important — of much or great significance or consequence: an important event in world history.
• main — chief in size, extent, or importance; principal; leading: the company’s main office; the main features of a plan.
• crucial — If you describe something as crucial, you mean it is extremely important.
• significant — important; of consequence.
• vital — of or relating to life: vital processes.

verb key

• input — ALPHA
• enter — Come or go into (a place).
• keyboard — the row or set of keys on a piano, organ, or the like.
• key in — the row or set of keys on a piano, organ, or the like.
• type — a number of things or persons sharing a particular characteristic, or set of characteristics, that causes them to be regarded as a group, more or less precisely defined or designated; class; category: a criminal of the most vicious type.

Antonyms for key

noun key

• lock — a tress, curl, or ringlet of hair.
• question — a sentence in an interrogative form, addressed to someone in order to get information in reply.
• outside — the outer side, surface, or part; exterior: The outside of the house needs painting.
• exterior — Forming, situated on, or relating to the outside of something.
• exteriority — Surface; externality.

adjective key

• unimportant — of much or great significance or consequence: an important event in world history.
• additional — Additional things are extra things apart from the ones already present.
• auxiliary — An auxiliary is a person who is employed to assist other people in their work. Auxiliaries are often medical workers or members of the armed forces.
• extra — Added to an existing or usual amount or number.
• inessential — not essential; not necessary; nonessential.

Top questions with key

• how to find windows 7 product key?
• how to get a broken key out of a lock?
• what to do in key west?
• what does low key mean?
• what is key performance indicators?
• what is key performance indicator?
• what is a key performance indicator?
• how many key does a piano have?
• how to win key master?
• what is a key fob?
• what is 10 key?

See also

• All definitions of key
• Synonyms for key
• Antonyms for key
• Sentences with the word key
• Words that rhyme with key
• key pronunciation
• The plural of key
• The adjective of key
• The past tense of key

Matching words

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• Words starting with ke
• Words starting with key

• Words ending with y
• Words ending with ey
• Words ending with key

• Words containing the letters k
• Words containing the letters k,e
• Words containing the letters k,e,y

• Words containing k
• Words containing ke
• Words containing key

• Defenition of the word key

  • An object designed to be able to open (and usually close) a lock.
  • Any of 24 major or minor diatonic scales that provide the tonal framework for a piece of music.
  • serving as an essential component; «a cardinal rule»; «the central cause of the problem»; «an example that was fundamental to the argument»; «computers are fundamental to modern industrial structure»
  • as in in botany or biology, for example
  • metal device shaped in such a way that when it is inserted into a lock the lock’s mechanism can be rotated
  • a lever that actuates a mechanism when depressed
  • pitch of the voice; «he spoke in a low key»
  • something crucial for explaining; «the key to development is economic integration»
  • a list of words or phrases that explain symbols or abbreviations
  • harmonize with or adjust to; «key one’s actions to the voters’ prevailing attitude»
  • regulate the musical pitch of
  • vandalize a car by scratching the sides with a key»
  • provide with a key; «We were keyed after the locks were changed in the building»
  • a coral reef off the southern coast of Florida
  • any of 24 major or minor diatonic scales that provide the tonal framework for a piece of music
  • one thousand grams; the basic unit of mass adopted under the System International d’Unites
  • effective; producing a desired effect; «the operative word»
  • used to wind a spring-driven device (as a clock)
  • metal device shaped in such a way that when it is inserted into the appropriate lock the lock»s mechanism can be rotated
  • the central building block at the top of an arch or vault
  • mechanical device used to wind another device that is driven by a spring (as a clock)
  • a generic term for any device whose possession entitles the holder to a means of access; «a safe-deposit box usually requires two keys to open it»
  • a list of answers to a test; «some students had stolen the key to the final exam»
  • (basketball) a space (including the foul line) in front of the basket at each end of a basketball court; usually painted a different color from the rest of the court; «he hit a jump shot from the top of the key»; «he dominates play in the paint»
  • United States lawyer and poet who wrote a poem after witnessing the British attack on Baltimore during the War of 1812; the poem was later set to music and entitled `The Star-Spangled Banner» (1779-1843)
  • a winged often one-seed indehiscent fruit as of the ash or elm or maple
  • a kilogram of a narcotic drug; «they were carrying two keys of heroin»
  • harmonize with or adjust to; «key one»s actions to the voters» prevailing attitude»
  • identify as in botany or biology, for example
  • vandalize a car by scratching the sides with a key; «His new Mercedes was keyed last night in the parking lot»
  • metal device shaped in such a way that when it is inserted into the appropriate lock the lock’s mechanism can be rotated
  • a lever (as in a keyboard) that actuates a mechanism when depressed
  • pitch of the voice
  • something crucial for explaining
  • a generic term for any device whose possession entitles the holder to a means of access
  • a list of answers to a test
  • (basketball) a space (including the foul line) in front of the basket at each end of a basketball court; usually painted a different color from the rest of the court
  • United States lawyer and poet who wrote a poem after witnessing the British attack on Baltimore during the War of 1812; the poem was later set to music and entitled `The Star-Spangled Banner’ (1779-1843)
  • a kilogram of a narcotic drug
  • harmonize with or adjust to
  • vandalize a car by scratching the sides with a key
  • provide with a key
  • serving as an essential component

Synonyms for the word key

• • answer
  • basic
  • basis
  • cardinal
  • cay
  • central
  • crucial
  • describe
  • discover
  • distinguish
  • enter
  • explanation
  • Florida keys
  • fundamental
  • identify
  • important
  • input
  • key in
  • key out
  • kg
  • kilo
  • kilogram
  • main
  • major
  • means
  • name
  • operative
  • pitch
  • primal
  • recipe
  • register
  • scale
  • secret
  • significant
  • solution
  • source
  • strategic
  • tonality
  • tone
  • type
  • vital
  • winder

Similar words in the key

• • important
  • key
  • key’s
  • keyboard
  • keyboard’s
  • keyboarded
  • keyboarder
  • keyboarders
  • keyboarding
  • keyhole
  • keyhole’s
  • keyholes
  • keynes
  • keynes’s
  • keynesian
  • keynesian’s
  • keynote
  • keynote’s
  • keynoted
  • keynotes
  • keynoting
  • keys
  • keystone
  • keystone’s
  • keystones
  • keystroked
  • keystroking
  • of import
  • significant

Meronymys for the word key

• • action
  • action mechanism
  • arch
  • basketball court
  • Everglade State
  • FL
  • Florida
  • hectogram
  • hg
  • keyboard
  • shank
  • stem
  • Sunshine State

Hyponyms for the word key

• • backspace
  • backspace key
  • backspacer
  • coign
  • coigne
  • command key
  • control key
  • home key
  • ignition key
  • key word
  • latchkey
  • major key
  • major mode
  • master
  • master key
  • minor key
  • minor mode
  • passe-partout
  • passkey
  • quoin
  • return
  • return key
  • shift
  • shift key
  • space bar
  • tab
  • tab key
  • telegraph key
  • tonic key
  • watch key

Hypernyms for the word key

• • achene
  • attorney
  • building block
  • chord
  • coral reef
  • device
  • explanation
  • furnish
  • harmonise
  • harmonize
  • kg
  • kilo
  • kilogram
  • lawyer
  • lever
  • list
  • listing
  • mechanical device
  • metric weight unit
  • musical notation
  • pitch
  • poet
  • positive identification
  • provide
  • reconcile
  • render
  • space
  • supply
  • vandalise
  • vandalize
  • weight unit

Antonyms for the word key

• • atonalism
  • atonality

See other words

• • What is ice cream
  • The definition of health
  • The interpretation of the word have
  • What is meant by half
  • The lexical meaning horror
  • The dictionary meaning of the word house
  • The grammatical meaning of the word hit
  • Meaning of the word grim
  • Literal and figurative meaning of the word finger
  • The origin of the word killer
  • Synonym for the word kin
  • Antonyms for the word kitchen
  • Homonyms for the word knee
  • Hyponyms for the word guilty
  • Holonyms for the word guerilla
  • Hypernyms for the word green
  • Proverbs and sayings for the word gossip
  • Translation of the word in other languages knife

Recent Examples on the Web

Due to their layerable nature, long coats in versatile colors are key.


—Claire Harmeyer, Peoplemag, 9 Apr. 2023




According to Deadline, disagreements over Kevin’s shooting schedule were key in making the decision.


—Selena Barrientos, Good Housekeeping, 9 Apr. 2023




Consistency will be key, as will leadership.


—Tom Green | Tgreen@al.com, al, 9 Apr. 2023




Also key: the entire sequence leading to the Fernandez miscue began with the Loyal preventing the visitors from getting the ball out of their own end with tenacious ball tracking.


—Ivan Carter, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Apr. 2023




However, Grover’s often muddy paws mean that, in this turn-of-the-century retreat, durability is key.


—Elizabeth Fazzare, ELLE Decor, 8 Apr. 2023




On those hot summer days, a lightweight style of summer suits for men is key for that polished and comfortable (ahem, non-suffocating) look.


—Christian Gollayan, menshealth.com, 8 Apr. 2023




And having a commission proved key, according to Wallace.


—Viju Mathew, Robb Report, 7 Apr. 2023




Lacroix says Brut’s huge platform and track record in producing socially-minded, unfiltered content has been key in attracting these savvy backers.


—Elsa Keslassy, Variety, 7 Apr. 2023

Hurlburt and McKenna, both midfielders, keyed the Cougars’ offense with two goals and one assist each.


—Glenn Graham, Baltimore Sun, 6 Apr. 2023




When asked about its abilities, ChatGPT seems to be keying in on its identity as the essential idea from which its ensuing chain of reasoning must flow.


—Ross Andersen, The Atlantic, 28 Mar. 2023




The laptop is also compatible with Apple’s Touch ID fingerprint technology to easily unlock your machine without having to key in a password.


—Rachel Murphy, The Arizona Republic, 26 Nov. 2022




Teams can’t key on one or two Musketeers.


—Adam Baum, The Enquirer, 13 Dec. 2021




The problem within the problem is that defenses are now starting to key a little more on Gabe Madsen, who had a hot start to the month, but shot a combined 3-for-17 from deep in the two games in Florida.


—Josh Newman, The Salt Lake Tribune, 25 Nov. 2022




Both provide creativity, but that became stifled in the final months last season as teams began to key in on both stars.


—Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 6 Oct. 2022




This is a depiction of output from the European weather model as early as Friday, July 8, when models began to key into the exceptional nature of the ongoing event in Europe.


—Jason Samenow, Washington Post, 18 July 2022




The Comets were then able to key on Ohio Ms. Basketball Bransford, who was held to just 4 points at the break.


—Scott Springer, The Enquirer, 6 Mar. 2022

Then there is Daedelus, pushing fingers against keys, opening and closing in somber rhythm.


—Will Hagle, Rolling Stone, 10 Apr. 2023




Private keys, akin to a password, were stored without appropriate backup procedures, according to the report.


—Caitlin Mccabe, WSJ, 10 Apr. 2023




The compact, but roomy bag comes with an adjustable strap and four compartments, three of which feature zippered closures, giving users plenty of space to safely store their keys, wallet, snacks, and other essentials.


—Jessica Leigh Mattern, Peoplemag, 9 Apr. 2023




The key to making your dreams a reality: Repetition, repetition, repetition.


—Jacqueline Tempera, Women’s Health, 7 Apr. 2023




The two keys to long-term infrastructure like roads and science station habitats: 1.


—Manasee Wagh, Popular Mechanics, 5 Apr. 2023




There are several apps that help people find public restrooms, including Squat or Not and Bathroom Scout, but one that may best help your situation is Flush, which tells you whether the bathroom has disabled access or requires a key (which often means there’s a private stall).


—Lois K. Solomon, Sun Sentinel, 5 Apr. 2023




Two convenient pockets keep storing essentials like a cell phone, keys, or lip gloss handy.


—Gabrielle Porcaro, Travel + Leisure, 4 Apr. 2023




The glitzy 212-key property, which opened In Hudson Yards in 2019, comes stacked with lavish amenities and health-centric features.


—Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 3 Apr. 2023


See More

Q: Why do we have two words for a small island—“key” and “cay”? And are they related to “quay,” the word for a wharf?

A: “Key” and “cay” are just different spellings of the same 17th-century word for a small, low island, especially in the Caribbean or off the coast of Florida.

“Key” is more common in Florida and “cay” in the Caribbean, and it’s likely that local customs and place names have kept the different spellings alive.

As we’ll explain later, both of them are probably derived from “quay,” a word from French that means a wharf.

First let’s talk about the pronunciations.

“Key” is pronounced KEE, like the unrelated word for something that opens a lock. “Cay” is usually pronounced the same way (KEE), but some dictionaries give an alternate pronunciation, KAY.

“Quay” was originally pronounced KEE, and that’s still the preferred pronunciation (it was once spelled “key”). Some dictionaries give only that pronunciation, though in American English two variant pronunciations are recognized as standard: KAY and KWAY.

We’ll have more to say about “quay” later.

The geographical terms “key” and “cay” were “originally the same word,” according to the Oxford English Dictionary.

Although “key” was recorded in writing first (1693), Oxford says it originated as a variant spelling of “cay,” which wasn’t recorded until 1707 but was no doubt known to explorers much earlier. In 17th-century English, “key” was pronounced KAY.

Oxford defines “key” as “a low-lying island or reef, esp. in the Caribbean or off the south coast of Florida.” And it says the earlier “cay” was similarly used for “islets” of sand, mud, rock, or coral lying “around the coast and islands of Spanish America.”

Here is the dictionary’s earliest citation for “key”:

“The place whereon Port-Royal was since built, was like one of the Keys or little Islands that lie off this Harbour.” (From a letter written on July 3, 1693, and published the following year in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London.)

“Key,” as we’ve said, was originally a variant spelling of “cay.”  As for “cay,” it was derived from the 16th-century Spanish word cayo (shoal or barrier reef).

That old Spanish word is “of uncertain origin,” Oxford says, but it’s “perhaps ultimately the same word as French quai … or perhaps a loanword from an indigenous language of the Antilles.”

Other etymologists are more definite about the French connection.

The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots (2nd ed.) says that “cay,” and “key” are descended from the Old French quai, the source of “quay.”

And the French word, American Heritage adds, comes from caio (rampart or retaining wall) in Gaulish, an extinct Celtic language once spoken by Celts in what is now France, Belgium, and other parts of northern Europe.

Going even further back, etymologists have identified a prehistoric Indo-European ancestor, a root reconstructed as kagh– that meant a wickerwork or a fence. This ancient meaning is reflected in the Gaulish and early French versions of the word.

“The French word was probably originally used with reference to fence-like wooden revetments, which were used to stabilize riverbanks and allow boats to moor,” the OED explains.

When the word first came into English in 1399, the OED says, it was spelled “key” and meant “a man-made bank or landing stage” for ships, either along the water or projecting into it.

The earliest OED example is from Aberdeen, Scotland. A notation in town records for 1399 describes a contract for the construction of 12 windows and 12 doors, to be delivered by the following Easter “at ony key of Abirden, or ellis at the sandis at Lawrence of Lethis howss” (“at any key of Aberdeen, or else at the sand beach at Lawrence of Leth’s house”).

The quotation appears in Extracts From the Council Register of the Burgh of Aberdeen, 1398-1625. We’ve added a few words from the original for context.

Though this is the first known example in written English, the word was familiar in Britain much earlier through Anglo-Norman French (spellings include kaye, kaie, kei, key, and many others).

And similar-sounding words meaning a fence or enclosure—and traced to the same prehistoric Indo-European root—existed in Celtic languages spoken in Britain, like Welsh (cae) and Cornish (kē).

The spelling “quay” showed up in the mid-1500s, more than 150 years after that 1399 example, when it was borrowed from French, according to John Ayto’s Dictionary of Word Origins.

The earliest citation in the OED is from a letter written to Sir Thomas Gresham on Dec. 31, 1561, by his agent in Antwerp:

“So many Quays crowne-serchers, wayters, and other powlyng [plundering] offycers.” (The letter is about the chaotic customs searches on the London docks, as compared to more sedate Antwerp.)

Today “quay” still means what it originally meant—a wharf. But it’s always been less common in the US than in the UK, Canada, and other Commonwealth countries.

Finally, as we mentioned earlier, the “key” that opens a lock is unrelated, as far as anybody knows. It’s been traced back to Old English (caeg), but no further.

“No one knows where the word originally came from,” Ayto says, adding that “it has no living relatives in other Germanic languages.”

Help support the Grammarphobia Blog with your donation.
And check out our books about the English language.

Look up key or Keys in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Key or The Key may refer to:

Common meaningsEdit

• Key (cryptography), a piece of information needed to encode or decode a message
• Key (lock), an object needed to open a mechanical lock
• Key (map), a guide to a map’s symbology
• A typewriter or computer keyboard key
• Answer key, a list of answers to a test

In musicEdit

• Key (music), the scale of a piece of music
• Key (instrument), finger-operated mechanism in musical instruments
• Keys, colloquial term for keyboard instruments

GeographyEdit

• Cay, also spelled key, a small, low-elevation, sandy island formed on the surface of a coral reef

United StatesEdit

• Key, Alabama
• Key, Ohio
• Key, West Virginia
• Keys, Oklahoma
• Florida Keys, an archipelago of about 1,700 islands in the southeast United States

ElsewhereEdit

• Rural Municipality of Keys No. 303, Saskatchewan, Canada
• Key, Iran, a village in Isfahan Province, Iran
• Key Island, Tasmania, Australia
• The Key, New Zealand, a locality in Southland, New Zealand

Arts and mediaEdit

FilmsEdit

• The Key (1934 film), a 1934 film directed by Michael Curtiz
• The Key (1958 film), a war film directed by Carol Reed, starring William Holden and Sophia Loren
• The Key, also known as Odd Obsession, a 1959 Japanese film directed by Kon Ichikawa
• The Key (1961 film), a Soviet animated feature
• The Key (1965 film), a Yugoslav omnibus film
• The Key (1971 film), a Czechoslovakian drama
• The Key (1983 film), an Italian erotic film directed by Tinto Brass, starring Stefania Sandrelli
• Kelid (The Key), a 1987 Iranian film written by Abbas Kiarostami
• The Key (2007 film), a French thriller film directed by Guillaume Nicloux
• Key (film), a 2011 film
• The Key (2014 film), an American film directed by Jefery Levy

LiteratureEdit

• The Key (Curley novel), a 2005 novel by Marianne Curley
• The Key (Elfgren and Strandberg novel), a 2013 novel by Mats Strandberg and Sara Bergmark Elfgren
• The Key (Tanizaki novel), a 1956 novel by Jun’ichirō Tanizaki
• «The Key» (short story), a 1966 short story by Isaac Asimov
• The Key, a 1969 book of etymology by John Philip Cohane
• The Key, a magazine published by Kappa Kappa Gamma
• The Key, a music publication of WXPN in Philadelphia

MusicEdit

For common meanings of the word «key» in music, see § Common meanings.

AlbumsEdit

• Key (Meredith Monk album), 1971
• Key (Son, Ambulance album), 2004
• The Key (Joan Armatrading album), 1983
• The Key (Vince Gill album), 1998
• The Key (Nocturnus album), 1990
• The Key (Operation: Mindcrime album), 2015
• Keys (album), a 2021 album by Alicia Keys

SongsEdit

• «The Key» (Speech Debelle song), 2009
• «The Key» (Matt Goss song), 1995
• «The Key» (Ou Est Le Swimming Pool song), 2010
• «Key», a song from the album Maid in Japan by Band-Maid
• «The Key», a song by Edita Abdieski
• «Key», a song from the album Minecraft – Volume Alpha by C418

TelevisionEdit

• «The Key» (Code Lyoko episode), 2005
• «The Key» (Prison Break episode), 2006
• «The Key» (The Walking Dead), 2018
• «The Key» (Yes, Prime Minister), 1986
• «The Keys» (Seinfeld), a 1992 TV episode

Other uses in arts and mediaEdit

• Key (character), a supervillain in the DC Comics universe
• Kirby’s Epic Yarn (KEY), a 2010 game by Nintendo
• Key, the title character of Key the Metal Idol, a Japanese anime OVA series
• The Key, a painting by Jackson Pollock

PeopleEdit

• Key (entertainer) (born 1991), South Korean entertainer
• Key (surname)
• Keys (surname)

SportsEdit

• Key (basketball), a restricted area around the basketball net
• Frederick Keys, a Double-A minor league baseball team

TechnologyEdit

See also: § Common meanings

• Key (computing), a field in a computer file or database used to sort or retrieve records
• Key (engineering), a type of coupling used to transmit rotation between a shaft and an attached item
• KeY, a software verification tool
• The Key (smartcard), a contactless smartcard for public transport ticketing in Britain
• .key, file extension used by Keynote
• Identification key, used to identify biological entities
• Telegraph key, the button used by a telegraph operator

Other usesEdit

• Key (company), a Japanese visual novel studio
• The Key School, an independent coeducational school in Annapolis, Maryland
• Keys, a truce term used in western Scotland
• Amazon Key a service by Amazon Prime allowing customers to get deliveries inside of their home or car
• House of Keys, the directly elected lower branch of Tynwald, the parliament of the Isle of Man
• Samara (fruit) or key, a type of fruit

See alsoEdit

• All pages with titles beginning with Key
• All pages with titles containing Key
• Keay, a surname
• Keyes (disambiguation)
• Keying (disambiguation)
• Quay (disambiguation)
• Qi (disambiguation)
• The Keys (disambiguation)