buy
/baɪ/[baɪ]
buy verb: to obtain (something) in exchange for money or goods.
Verb
buy (third-person singular simple present buys, present participle buying, simple past bought, past participle bought or (archaic, rare, dialectal) boughten)
- To obtain (something) in exchange for money or goods.
- Who'd Father buy the car for? He bought it for me, not for you.
- Buy what thou hast no need of, and ere long thou wilt sell thy necessaries.1793, Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography
- To obtain, especially by some sacrifice.
- I've bought material comfort by foregoing my dreams.
- You just bought yourself an assault charge!
- To suffer consequences for (something) through being deprived of something; to pay for (something one has done).
- VVhat villaine, doſt ſtrike me? I ſweare by the rood,
As I am Iacke Strawe, thou ſhalt buy it with thy blood.1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], →OCLC, Act I
- VVhat villaine, doſt ſtrike me? I ſweare by the rood,
- To bribe.
- He tried to buy me with gifts, but I wouldn't give up my beliefs.
- 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.2025 May 20, Tal Axelrod, “MAGA faithful grow frustrated with Trump's Justice Department”, in Axios
- To be equivalent to in value.
- The dollar doesn't buy as much as it used to.
- to accept as true; to believe
- I'm not going to buy your stupid excuses anymore!
- People like to say that dead people look asleep, and maybe she would have bought that under different circumstances.2020, Akwaeke Emezi, The Death of Vivek Oji, Faber & Faber Ltd, page 201
- 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.
- Synonyms:
- make a buy
- To make a bluff, usually a large one.
- Smith tried to buy the pot on the river with a huge bluff.
Noun
buy (plural buys)
- Something which is bought; a purchase.
- At only $30, the second-hand kitchen table was a great buy.
- PEARS ARE GOOD FRUIT BUY FOR QUICK, EASY DESSERTS1954 August 25, The Napa Register, volume 164, number 79, Napa, Calif., →OCLC, page 3, column 4
buy meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
buy in Hindi
- to obtain something with money
- क्रय kray, ख़रीदना xarīdnā, कीनना kīnnā
- to accept as true
- मानना mānnā
buy in Tamil
- to obtain something with money
- வாங்கு vāṅku
buy in Marathi
- खरेदी, खरेदी करा, खरेदी करणे
buy in Urdu
- to obtain something with money
- مول لینا mol lenā, خَرِیدْنا xarīdnā
More languagesFewer languages
- buy in Bengali
- কেনা kena
- buy in Telugu
- కొను konu, విలుచు vilucu
- buy in Malayalam
- വാങ്ങിക്കുക vāṅṅikkuka, എടുക്കുക eṭukkuka
- buy in Kannada
- ಕೊಳ್ಳು koḷḷu
- buy in Punjabi
- ਖ਼ਰੀਦਣਾ xarīdṇā
- buy in Gujarati
- ખરીદવું kharīdvũ
- buy in Odia
- କିଣିବା kiṇibā
- buy in Sanskrit
- क्रीणाति krīṇāti
- buy in Sinhala
- ගන්නවා gannawā
- buy in Assamese
- কিনা kina
- buy in Nepali
- किन्नु kinnu
- buy in Pashto
- پېرل perël, پېرودل perowdël, اخستل
- buy in Tagalog
- bili, bilhin, bumili
- buy in Arabic
- اِشْتَرَى ištarā
- buy in Malay
- beli
- buy in Indonesian
- membeli
- buy in Thai
- ซื้อ sʉ́ʉ
- buy in Vietnamese
- mua
- buy in Myanmar
- ဝယ် wai
- Sindhi
- خريد ڪرڻ xred krṇ
Examples of buy in a sentence
- If you want to buy a bicycle, you need to put the money in your piggy bank.
- Every day at two o'clock, he sends his secretary out to buy him a coffee.
- Are you going to buy a new car or a second-hand one?
Synonyms of buy
Antonyms
Forms of buy
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | buys |
| present participle | buying |
| past | bought |
| past participle | bought |
| alternative form | buie |
| past participle (archaic, dialectal, rare) | boughten |
| second-person singular present (archaic) | buyest |
| second-person singular past (archaic) | boughtest |
| third-person singular present (archaic) | buyeth |
| past participle (archaic) | boughten |
| Noun | |
| plural | buys |
Origin of buy
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.
Words formed from buy
- buy boat
- buy-bust
- buydown
- buyout
- buyrate
- impulse buy
- bought and paid for
- bought priesthood
- bring-and-buy
- bring-and-buy sale
- buyability
- buyable
- buy a dog and bark oneself
- buy and hold
- buy and pay for
- buy a pup
- buy a ticket to
- buy back
- buy-back
- 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 nice or buy twice
- buy off
- buy-off
- buy off on
- buy order
- 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 rights
- buy the rumor
- buy the same horse twice
- buy time
- buy-to-let
- buy to let
- buy-to-play
- buyup
Phrases with buy
- buy up
- buy backs
- buy boats
- buy sides
- buy stop orders
- buy one, get one
- buy wolf tickets
- buy woof tickets
- buy one, take one
- buy yourself a hat
- buy with one's ears
- buy cheap, buy twice
17 more phrasesFewer phrases
- buy high, sell higher
- buy one, get one free
- can I buy you a drink
- don't buy green bananas
- you break it, you buy it
- money can't buy happiness
- money cannot buy happiness
- buy the rumor, sell the fact
- buy the rumor, sell the news
- I don't want to buy anything
- you buy cheap, you get cheap
- buy when it snows, sell when it goes
- buy when it snows and sell when it goes
- why buy a book when you can join a library
- why buy a book when you can join the library
- that and a nickel will buy you a cup of coffee
- why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free
Words that rhyme with buy
Questions about buy
- What does buy mean?
- Buy means to obtain (something) in exchange for money or goods.
- What is buy in Hindi?
- Buy in Hindi is क्रय (kray), ख़रीदना (xarīdnā), कीनना (kīnnā). See Buy meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is buy?
- Buy can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce buy?
- Buy is pronounced /baɪ/.
- What is the past tense of buy?
- The past tense of buy is bought.
Words near buy in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: buy (page history and authors); buy (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); కొను (Telugu) (page history and authors); എടുക്കുക (Malayalam) (page history and authors); ಕೊಳ್ಳು (Kannada) (page history and authors); କିଣିବା (Odia) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-buy.ogg, En-uk-to buy.ogg.
Cite this entry: “buy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/buy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.