Veejay

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A television host who presents and comments on musical video content A personality who curates and introduces video performances to an audience An individual responsible for showcasing music video entertainment and engaging with viewers
2. Someone who introduces and provides commentary on songs shown on TV or video platforms
3. An individual who curates and presents music video selections to an audience

Etymology: "Veejay" is a playful blend built from the letters themselves. The "vee" and "jay" stand for the letters V and J, the initials of "video" and "jockey," and the name was modeled on "deejay," the older clipped form of "disc jockey." A VJ is, in effect, a DJ who spins videos rather than records, so the word follows the same pattern as the term it borrows from. The word's sound is a joke with a second meaning. Because "vee-jay" is pronounced like the slang "vajay" and "va-jay-jay," which are crude terms for female genitalia, the spelling and pronunciation carry an unintended double meaning that people have long noticed. Those informal forms are what the word is compared with in dictionaries, which is a reminder that a clever letter-based name can take on meanings its inventors never intended.

Synonyms: video jockey, VJ