how to pronounce lay

/ˈlɛɪ/

audio example by a male speaker

audio example by a female speaker

the above transcription of lay is a detailed (narrow) transcription according to the rules of the International Phonetic Association; you can find a description of each symbol by clicking the phoneme buttons in the secction below.

lay is pronounced in one syllable

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1. example pitch curve for pronunciation of lay

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video examples of lay pronunciation

An example use of lay in a speech by a native speaker of american english:

“… is to find a mate to lay those eggs and …”

meanings of lay

verb:

To apply; to put.
To place and arrange (pages) for a form upon the imposing stone.
To state; to allege.
To prepare (a plan, project etc.); to set out, establish (a law, principle).
Simple past tense of lie when pertaining to position.
To present or offer.
To put the strands of (a rope, a cable, etc.) in their proper places and twist or unite them.
To have sex with.
To impute; to charge; to allege.
To place (new type) properly in the cases.
To don or put on (tefillin (phylacteries)).
To be in a horizontal position; to lie (from confusion with lie).
To cause to subside or abate.
To take a position; to come or go.
To install certain building materials, laying one thing on top of another.
To place down in a position of rest, or in a horizontal position.
To point; to aim.
To bet (that something is or is not the case).
To produce and deposit an egg.
To impose (a burden, punishment, command, tax, etc.).
To deposit (a stake) as a wager; to stake; to risk.

noun:

A plan; a scheme.
A law.
Arrangement or relationship; layout.
A share of the profits in a business.
A casual sexual partner. What was I, just another lay you can toss aside as you go on to your next conquest?.
An obligation; a vow.
A layer.
A meadow; a lea.
A lake.
An act of sexual intercourse.
The laying of eggs.
A lyrical, narrative poem written in octosyllabic couplets that often deals with tales of adventure and romance.
A ballad or sung poem; a short poem or narrative, usually intended to be sung.
The direction a rope is twisted.

adjective:

Not trumps.
Not educated or cultivated; ignorant.
Non-professional; not being a member of an organized institution.
Not belonging to the clergy, but associated with them.

name:

A river in western France.
A surname.

lay frequency in english - B1 level of CEFR

the word lay occurs in english on average 54.8 times per one million words; this frequency warrants it to be in the study list for B1 level of language mastery according to CEFR, the Common European Framework of Reference.

topics lay can be related to

it is hard to perfectly classify words into specific topics since each word can have many context of its use, but our machine-learning models believe that lay can be often used in the following areas:

1) business and work;

2) people, society, and culture;