aí

From Vulgar Latin ad ibī (“to/at there”). Cognate with Spanish ahí.

aí (Hebrew spelling אאי)

1. there

Inherited from Old Tupi a'y, from Proto-Tupi-Guarani *aʔɨ, from Proto-Tupian *aʔi.

• IPA^(key): /aˈi/
  • IPA^(key): (Rio Negro) [aˈʔi]
  • IPA^(key): (Middle Amazon) [aˈɨ]
• Rhymes: -i
• Hyphenation: a‧í

aí (plural aí-itá)

1. sloth (any animal in the suborder Folivora)

• Avila, Marcel Twardowsky (2021), “aí”, in Proposta de dicionário nheengatu-português [Nheengatu–Portuguese dictionary proposal] (in Portuguese), São Paulo: USP, →DOI, page 222

• áe, aíï

• IPA^(key): /ˈaːi̯/

aí

1. his, hers, theirs (optionally governed by the definite article)
2. (partitive genitive) of him, of her, of them

Normally uninflected, but the following forms, which Thurneysen considers artificial Latinisms, are found in the Milan glosses:

• Accusative plural: aíï
• Dative plural: aíïb

• c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 25^d14

  Dos·n-aidlibea uili; ní ain nechtar n-aíï, indí nachid·chúalatar et tremi·tíagat

  He will visit them all; he will not protect either of them, [neither] those who did not hear it nor those who transgress it.

• c. 850-875, Turin Glosses and Scholia on St Mark, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 484–94, Tur. 110c

  Ba bés leusom do·bertis dá boc leu dochum tempuil, ⁊ no·léicthe indala n‑aí fon díthrub co pecad in popuil, ⁊ do·bertis maldachta foir, ⁊ n⟨o⟩·oircthe didiu and ó popul tar cenn a pecthae ind aile.

  It was a custom with them that two he-goats were brought by them to the temple, and one of the two of them was let go to the wilderness with the sin of the people, and curses were put upon him, and thereupon the other was slain there by the people for their sins.

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 aí”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Thurneysen, Rudolf (1940) [1909], D. A. Binchy and Osborn Bergin, transl., A Grammar of Old Irish, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, translation of Handbuch des Alt-Irischen (in German), →ISBN, §§ 444, 507 e, pages 279–80, 322; reprinted 2017

• Audio (Portugal (Porto)):

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• Rhymes: -i
• Hyphenation: a‧í

From Latin ad (“to, toward, at”) + ibī (“there”). Compare Galician aí, Spanish ahí.

• ahi (pre-standardization spelling)
• ahy (obsolete)

aí (not comparable)

2. there (close to the second person (you))

   O livro está aí, ao seu lado.

   The book is there, next to you.

4. towards the second person

   Irei aí.

   I’ll go to you.

6. then (soon afterwards)

   Synonym: então

   O telhado caiu, aí reconstruiram a casa.

   The roof collapsed, then they rebuilt the house.

8. in this case; in this situation; this way

   O livro pode ser queimado. Aí não tem como restaurá-lo.

   The book may be burned. This way it is impossible to restore it.

aí!

2. yeah! (expressing joy, celebration, glee, etc.)

   Synonyms: aê!, é isso aí!

Borrowed from Old Tupi a'y.

• aígue

aí f (plural aís)

1. (Brazil, dialectal) sloth (any animal in the suborder Folivora)

   Synonyms: bicho-preguiça, preguiça

• → English: ai

• A. B. H. Ferreira, Novo Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, second edition (Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, 1986)
• “aí”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
• “aí”, in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “aí”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025
• “aí”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025