Word.ws English Dictionary

Kanye

UK/ˈkænjeɪ//ˈkɑnjeɪ/

Kanye proper noun: a male given name.

Proper noun

Kanye (plural Kanyes)

  1. A male given name.
    • Kanye West took to social media to speak about mental health after a fan claimed that the rapper was “off his meds”.2022 February 11, Peony Hirwani, “Kanye West tells fan who suggested he’s off medication to ‘be more conscious’”, in The Independent

Verb

Kanye (third-person singular simple present Kanyes, present participle Kanyeing, simple past and past participle Kanye'd or Kanyed)

  1. (slang) To interrupt the speech of (someone).
    • Taylor sings her monologue song on Saturday Night Live with Bill Hader (left) and Jason Sudeikis (right) making sure she doesn’t get Kanye’d again.2010, Liv Spencer, Taylor Swift: Every Day Is a Fairytale – The Unofficial Story, Toronto, Ont.: ECW Press, →ISBN, page 146
    • In what probably put his film on the map more than winning the Oscar itself, the short documentary winner Roger Ross Williams got Kanye’d when accepting his award for “Music by Prudence.” As Mr. Williams, the director, was making his speech, Elinor Burkett, the producer, jumped onstage with him and...2010 March 8, Melena Ryzik, The Carpetbagger (The New York Times), archived from the original on 17 Mar 2023
  2. (slang) To interrupt (a speech).
    • Roger Ross Williams hopes "God Loves Uganda" will give him another shot at an acceptance speech after his first was "Kanye'd" by a disgruntled collaborator.2013 October 30, Chris O'Falt, “Documentarian Ambushed at Oscars Returns With Film on Africa’s Deadly Anti-Gay Campaigns”, in The Hollywood Reporter, archived from the original on 27 Nov 2021
    • The G.O.O.D. Music founder may have had a smile on his face when he almost Kanyed Beck's Album of the Year acceptance speech at the Grammys last night — and Beyoncé was laughing when she said "No Kanye, no" from the audience — but his crashing of the stage was no joke.2015 February 8, Evelyn Diaz, “Kanye West Pretends to Storm the Stage at Grammy Awards”, in BET, archived from the original on 06 Oct 2023

Examples of Kanye in a sentence

  • In what probably put his film on the map more than winning the Oscar itself, the short documentary winner Roger Ross Williams got Kanye’d when accepting his award for “Music by Prudence.” As Mr.2010 March 8, Melena Ryzik, The Carpetbagger (The New York Times), archived from the original on 17 Mar 2023:
  • Kanye’d from Kanye West (b. 1977) meaning to have a speech interrupted.[2015, Bruce M. Rowe, Diane P. Levine, A Concise Introduction to Linguistics, 4th edition, London; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, published...
  • Ironically, this attempt to steal his thunder gave him even more publicity when news outlets publicized how the more Black director, Williams, was “‘Kanye’d’ by Burkett” (McDonald 2016).2022, Rebecca Bell-Metereau, “Life, Animated: Adapting a Book about a Hero with Autism”, in Murray Pomerance, R. Barton Palmer, editors...
  • After a few more speeches and several moments of self-reflection the woman who made the remarks—or better yet Kanye’d me during my speech—I walked up and started a conversation.2022, Boni Wozolek, editor, Black Lives Matter in US Schools: Race, Education, and Resistance, Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York...

Forms of Kanye

Proper noun
pluralKanyes
Verb
third-person singular presentKanyes
present participleKanyeing
past participleKanye'd
pastKanye'd
past participleKanyed
pastKanyed

Origin of Kanye

Evidently from Igbo Kanye, although inspiration from other African languages may have contributed. The verb is a reference to Kanye West interrupting Taylor Swift’s speech at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.

Words formed from Kanye

Questions about Kanye

What does Kanye mean?
Kanye means a male given name.
How do you use Kanye in a sentence?
In what probably put his film on the map more than winning the Oscar itself, the short documentary winner Roger Ross Williams got Kanye’d when accepting his award for “Music by Prudence.” As Mr.
What part of speech is Kanye?
Kanye can be a proper noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce Kanye?
Kanye is pronounced /ˈkɑnjeɪ/ (US).

Words near Kanye in the dictionary

  1. kanya butter
  2. kanya tree
  3. Kanyaka
  4. Kanyakumari
  5. Kanyapella
  6. Kanye
  7. Kanye glasses
  8. Kanye'd
  9. Kanyed
  10. Kanyeing
  11. Kanyen'kéha

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Kanye (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-AnotherFriendlyHuman-Kanye.wav.

Cite this entry: “Kanye.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/kanye. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.