pay

UK/peɪ/

pay verb: to give money or other compensation to in exchange for goods or services.

Verb (1)

pay (third-person singular simple present pays, present participle paying, simple past and past participle paid or (obsolete) payed)

(ambitransitive) To give money or other compensation to in exchange for goods or services.
- pay cash or pay in cash, pay by credit/debit card
- pay in dollars/euros, etc.
(intransitive, transitive) To deposit into an account.
- I pay a portion of each paycheck into a savings account.
(ambitransitive) To discharge, as a debt or other obligation, by giving or doing what is due or required.
- to pay compensation, to pay a fine
- She offered to pay the bill.
Synonyms:

pay off, repay
(intransitive, transitive) To be profitable; to be worth it.
- It didn't pay him to keep the store open any more.
- Crime doesn’t pay.
(intransitive) To cover, as a cost.
- Those investments paid for her college education.
(transitive) To yield as a benefit.
- to pay dividends; to pay interest
- You will get paid from this investment yearly.
Synonyms:

pay out, yield, return
(transitive) To give (something else than money).
- to pay attention, to pay tribute, to pay a visit
- not paying me a welcomec. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First...
(intransitive) To suffer consequences, especially justly.
- He paid for his fun in the sun with a terrible sunburn.
(transitive) To admit that a joke, punchline, etc., was funny.
- Sutho took a pull at his Johnny Walker and Coke and laughed that trademark laugh of his and said: `Okay. I'll pay that all right.'1996, Jon Byrell, Lairs, Urgers and Coat-Tuggers, Sydney: Ironbark, page 294

Noun

pay (countable and uncountable, plural pays)

Money given in return for work; salary or wages.
- Many employers have rules designed to keep employees from comparing their pays.
- The skipper Mr. Cooke had hired at Far Harbor was a God-fearing man with a luke warm interest in his new billet and employer, and had only been prevailed upon to take charge of the yacht after the offer of an emolument equal to half a year's sea pay of an ensign in the navy.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter X, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC
(countable, rare) A paying job; a paying concern.
- "You can if you like. I'll drop in each day to see how she gets on." "Oh, will you? That's a relief. All the same, I wouldn't say she was a very good pay, if you spend too much time on her." "Oh, bad pays make up half a doctor's job."1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 36

Adjective

pay (not comparable)

Operable or accessible on deposit of coins.
- pay toilet
Pertaining to or requiring payment.
- pay television

Verb (2)

pay (third-person singular simple present pays, present participle paying, simple past and past participle payed or paid)

(transitive) To cover (the bottom of a vessel, a seam, a spar, etc.) with tar or pitch, or a waterproof composition of tallow, resin, etc.; to smear.

Proper noun capitalized: Pay

Pay (countable and uncountable, plural Pays)

A diminutive of the unisex given name Payton.
A surname.

pay meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

pay in Hindi

to give money in exchange for goods or services: पैसे देना paise denā
to discharge by giving or doing what is due or required: चुकाना cukānā

pay in Marathi

pay, salary, monthly pay, wages: पगार pagār
to pay: भरणे bharṇe

pay in Urdu

to give money in exchange for goods or services: قیمت دینا qīmat denā, ادا کرنا adā karnā, ویتن دینا vetan denā, چکانا cukānā, رقم دینا raqm denā, پیسے دینا paise denā

More languagesFewer languages

pay in Bengali: টাকা দেওয়া ṭaka deōẇa
pay in Telugu: చెల్లించు celliñcu
pay in Malayalam: പ്രതിഫലം നൽകുക, പ്രതിഫലം, ശമ്പളം
pay in Kannada: ತೆರು teru
pay in Punjabi: ਤਨਖ਼ਾਹ tanxāh, ਤਾਰਨਾ tārnā, ਉਤਾਰਣਾ utārṇā, ਭਰਨਾ bharnā
pay in Gujarati: પગાર આપવો pagār āpavo, કીમત આપવી kīmat āpavī
pay in Odia: ଦେଯ଼ ଦିଅନ୍ତୁ, ଦେଯ଼ କରନ୍ତୁ, ଦେଯ଼ ପ୍ରଦାନ କରନ୍ତୁ
pay in Sanskrit: ददाति dádāti, दिशति diśáti, वहति váhati
pay in Sinhala: ගෙවනවා gewanawā
pay in Assamese: দে de
pay in Nepali: तिर्नु tirnu
pay in Tagalog: magbayad
pay in Arabic: دَفَعَ dafaʕa, خَلَّصَ ḵallaṣa, دفع dafaʕ, دَفَع dafaʕ
pay in Malay: bayar
pay in Indonesian: membayar
pay in Persian: پرداختن pardâxtan, مزد
pay in Thai: จ่าย jàai
pay in Vietnamese: trả, thanh toán, lương, tiền công
pay in Myanmar: ချေ hkye

Examples of pay in a sentence

How much will the job pay?
She is paying him to clean the place up.
He doesn't have money, but he pays rent in chores and housework.
He is paying his debt to society.
It will pay to wait.
Admiral Hackett: You can pay a soldier to fire a gun.2012, BioWare, Mass Effect 3, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Normandy SR-2:

All 40 example sentences with pay

Synonyms of pay

14 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of pay

Forms of pay

third-person singular present	pays
present participle	paying
past participle	paid
past	paid
past participle	payed
past	payed
past participle (obsolete)	payed
past (obsolete)	payed
second-person singular present (archaic)	payest
second-person singular past (archaic)	paidest
second-person singular past (archaic)	paidst
second-person singular past (archaic)	payedst
third-person singular present (archaic)	payeth

Past tense of pay: paid

Origin of pay

From Middle English payen, from Old French paiier (“pay”), from Medieval Latin pācāre (“to settle, satisfy”) from Latin pācāre (“to pacify”). In this sense, displaced native Old English ġield (“pay”) and ġieldan (“to pay”), whence Modern English yield.

From Old French peier, from Latin picāre (“to cover with pitch”).

Words formed from pay

Phrases with pay

116 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with pay

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about pay

What does pay mean?: Pay means to give money or other compensation to in exchange for goods or services.
What is pay in Hindi?: Pay in Hindi is पैसे देना (paise denā), चुकाना (cukānā). See Pay meaning in Hindi.
How do you use pay in a sentence?: How much will the job pay?
What part of speech is pay?: Pay can be a verb, a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce pay?: Pay is pronounced /peɪ/ (UK).
What is the past tense of pay?: The past tense of pay is paid.

Words near pay in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-pay.ogg.

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