Morpheme
Gay
Type
free base
Denotation
joyful, laughing, merry, lively, lighthearted, uninhibited; homosexual
Etymology
Middle English gay; Old French gai; probably from Old Occitan gai and merged with earlier Old French jai
Evidence
gay, gayer, gayest, gayfolk, gayification, gayify, gayish, gayization, gayly, gayness, gayphobia, gayspeak, gaytastic, nongay
Notes
“homosexual” notion developed from euphemistic usages of ‘gay’ as living outside conventional norms
