tokay

¹

[ toh-key ]

noun

1. a gecko, Gekko gecko, of the Malay Archipelago and southeastern Asia: sometimes kept as a pet.

Tokay

²

[ toh-key ]

noun

1. an aromatic wine made from Furmint grapes grown in the district surrounding Tokay, a town in NE Hungary.
2. Horticulture.
   1. a large, red variety of grape, grown for table use.
   2. the vine bearing this fruit, grown in California.
3. a sweet, strong white wine made in California.

Tokay

¹

/ təʊˈkeɪ /

noun

1. a fine sweet wine made near Tokaj, Hungary
2. a variety of large sweet grape used to make this wine
3. a similar wine made elsewhere

tokay

²

/ ˈtəʊkeɪ /

noun

1. a small gecko, Gekko gecko, of S and SE Asia, having a retractile claw at the tip of each digit

Word History and Origins

Origin of tokay¹

1745–55; < dialectal Malay tokeʔ < Javanese təʔkəʔ (spelling tekek)

Word History and Origins

Origin of tokay¹

from Malay toke, of imitative origin

Example Sentences

Those of you who enjoy a bit of English literature might recognize Tokaji under its Anglicized name, tokay, which aristocrats like to swizzle in period romances and gaslit murder mysteries.

From Seattle Times

This, with some cheese and a salad and a bottle of old Tokay, of which I had two glasses, was my supper.

From Literature

Except for a Hungarian Tokay, the wine list is all French and American, and the salonlike room seats 37, plus nine at the bar.

From New York Times

In 2018, Wine Enthusiast magazine named fifth-generation Lodi vintner Adam Mettler of Michael David Winery, owner of popular labels including Inkblot and Earthquake, as its winemaker of the year, bringing acclaim to vineyards once best known for pink-red Tokay table grapes.

From Los Angeles Times

The BBC, by contrast, is seeing the epic drama through from the opening glass of tokay to the concluding moment, when Lyra's daemon mutates into a pine marten.

From BBC