Save Gender Masculine Usage Arabic, Literature Scripts حي(Arabic) Other Forms FormsHai, Hay Meaning & History Derived from the Arabic adjective حي (hayy) meaning "alive".In medieval Arabic literature, this is the name of the eponymous character of the philosophical novel حي بن يقظان (Hayy ibn Yaqdhan) written by Ibn Tufayl (c. 1105-1185).