What does aby mean?
Aby is an archaic English verb meaning to pay the penalty for something — to suffer the consequences of one's actions or to atone for a wrongdoing. In its earliest sense it also meant simply to buy or redeem, reflecting its origin in the Old English ābycgan, formed from the prefix ā- plus bycgan, 'to buy.' Over time the commercial sense faded and the word came to be used almost exclusively of paying a moral or legal price, as when a wrongdoer 'abys' an offense dearly. The word appears in Middle English and early modern literature, including Shakespeare, where it lends gravity to talk of retribution. Today aby is obsolete in ordinary speech, surviving only in historical writing and as a deliberate archaism, but it remains a vivid reminder that English once treated guilt as a debt to be paid.
To pay the penalty or price for an offense; to atone for or suffer the consequences of one's actions.
"He knew he would aby his deceit when the truth came out."
Archaic; found almost exclusively in historical and literary sources.
(Archaic) To buy; to purchase or redeem.
"The merchant agreed to aby the goods at a fair price."
This original sense is obsolete and appears only in Old and Middle English texts.
Shakespeare used 'aby' when characters had to pay dearly for their misdeeds — a word that literally meant 'to buy back' your sins.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of aby
Aby descends from the Old English ābycgan, meaning 'to buy, redeem, or pay for,' a compound of the prefix ā- and bycgan ('to buy'), which itself traces back to the Proto-Germanic root *bugjan. The same Germanic root underlies the modern verbs 'buy' and, through related formations, 'bid' and 'bode.' After the Middle English period the literal buying sense dropped away, leaving only the figurative sense of paying a penalty, and the word gradually fell out of use by the seventeenth century, persisting thereafter chiefly in literary and dialectal contexts.
Related word forms
How aby is actually used
Aby is archaic and survives mainly in historical and literary texts, particularly in the phrase 'aby it dearly.' It should not be used in modern everyday writing except for deliberate stylistic effect.
Easily confused with aby
Abide means to endure or remain, while aby means to pay for or atone for something, though both derive from the same Old English root.