woe

Translingual

Etymology

Abbreviation of English Woleaian.

Symbol

woe

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Woleaian.

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Woleaian terms

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English wo, woo, from Old English wā, wǣ, from Proto-West Germanic *wai (interjection), from Proto-Germanic *wai (“woe!”, interjection), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wáy (“oh!; ah!; woe!; alas!”, interjection).

Cognates

Cognate with Scots wae (“woe”), Cimbrian bèa (“woe!”), Dutch wee (“nauseating”), German Weh, Wehe (“misery, woe; pain”), Yiddish וויי (vey, “pain; woe”), Danish, Norwegian Nynorsk, Norwegian Bokmål, and Swedish ve (“woe”), Icelandic væl (“cry, wail”), væla (“to cry, wail; to complain”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌹 (wai, “woe!”); also Cornish gew, go (“woe!”), Welsh gwae (“misery, woe”), Catalan, Italian, and Portuguese guai (“woe!”), Ladino guay, גואי (“woe”), Latin vae (“woe”), Romanian vai (“woe”), Spanish guay (“way”), Ancient Greek οὐαί (ouaí, “woe!”), Albanian vaj (“woe!”), Latvian vai (“oh!”), Bulgarian уви́ (uví, “alas”), Russian увы́ (uvý, “alas!”), Serbo-Croatian авај, avaj (“alas!”), Armenian վայ (vay, “sorrow, woe”), Persian وای (vây, “woe”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /wəʊ/
• (General American) enPR: wō, IPA^(key): /woʊ/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊ
• Homophone: whoa (wine–whine merger)

Noun

woe (countable and uncountable, plural woes)

1. Great sadness or distress; a misfortune causing such sadness.

   Oh, woe is me!

   Synonyms: bale, grief, sorrow, misery; see also Thesaurus:sadness, Thesaurus:woe

   • 1667, John Milton, “(please specify the page number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     Thus saying, from her side the fatal key, / Sad instrument of all our woe, she took.

   • 1717, Alexander Pope, “Eloisa to Abelard”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, →OCLC:

     Soon as thy letters trembling I unclose / That well-known name awakens all my woes.

   • 1808, [Hannah More], chapter VI, in Cœlebs in Search of a Wife. […], volume I, London: […] [Strahan and Preston] for T[homas] Cadell and W[illiam] Davies, […], →OCLC, pages 68–69:

     But if there was a competition between a ſick family and a new broach, the broach was ſure to carry the day. This would not have been the caſe, had they been habituated to viſit themſelves the abodes of penury and woe.

   • October 14 2017, Sandeep Moudgal, The Times of India, Rains devastate families, political parties make beeline to apply balm on open wounds:

     The Friday night rains which wrecked families in Kurabarahalli saw all the three major political parties making a beeline to express their condolences, listen to their woes and provide compensation in the hope of garnering their goodwill ahead of the 2018 assembly elections.

2. Calamity, trouble.

   Synonyms: adversity; see also Thesaurus:disaster

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Revelation 8:13:

     And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!

   • 1980, Chaka Khan, “Nothing's Gonna Take You Away”, in Naughty (Chaka Khan album):

     Don't let the little woes of life harm you / Let the joy in the life you lead / Let it charm you / Let it charm you now

3. A curse; a malediction.
   • 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:

     Can there be a woe or curse in all the stores of vengeance equal to the malignity of such a practice?

Derived terms

• for weal or woe
• in weal and woe
• tale of woe
• woebegone
• woe betide
• woefare
• woeful
• woe is me, woe is I
• woeless
• woesome
• woe to

Translations

grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity — see also distress,‎ difficulty,‎ tribulation

• Arabic: حَزَن (ḥazan)
• Aramaic:

  Classical Syriac: ܘܵܝܵܐ (wāya)

• Bulgarian: беда (bg) f (beda), злочестие n (zločestie), скръб (bg) f (skrăb)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 悲痛 (zh) (bēitòng), 悲慟 / 悲恸 (zh) (bēitòng), 悲恸 (zh) (bēitòng)

• Cornish: gew m
• Czech: trápení (cs) n, strast (cs) f, běda (cs) f, hoře (cs) n
• Dutch: droefheid (nl), lijden (nl), ellende (nl), ongeluk (nl)
• Egyptian: (jꜥnw)
• Finnish: suru (fi), tuska (fi)
• French: tristesse (fr) f, douleur (fr) f, misère (fr) f, malheur (fr) m
• Galician: aflición (gl) f, mágoa (gl) f, infelicidade (gl) f
• German: Weh (de) n, Jammer (de) m, Kummer (de) m, Leid (de) n
• Greek: θλίψη (el) f (thlípsi), συμφορά (el) f (symforá)
• Hebrew: אבוי (he) (avoy), צער (he) m (tsa'ar), יגון (he) m (yagon)
• Indonesian: celaka (id)
• Italian: dolore (it) m, disgrazia (it) f, guaio (it) m
• Latin: dolor (la), luctus
• Low German:

  German Low German: Weh n

• Māori: aitu
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sorg (no) m or f, ve (no) m

  Nynorsk: sorg f

• Occitan: dolor (oc) f, patiment (oc) m, patiràs m
• Polish: nieszczęście (pl) n, żałość (pl) f, cierpienie (pl) n, niedola (pl) f
• Portuguese: desgraça (pt) f, infelicidade (pt) f, mágoa (pt) f
• Romanian: durere (ro) f, suferință (ro) f, mâhnire (ro) f, nenorocire (ro) f
• Russian: печа́ль (ru) f (pečálʹ), грусть (ru) f (grustʹ), го́ре (ru) (góre)
• Scottish Gaelic: dòlas m, truaighe f, sgad m
• Spanish: pena (es) f, infortunio (es) m, ay (es) m, congoja (es) f, mal (es) m
• Swedish: sorg (sv), ve (sv)
• Turkish: üzüntü (tr), sıkıntı (tr), kaygı (tr), ur (tr) dert (tr), gam (tr), keder (tr), teessür (tr),
• Vietnamese: khốn (vi)
• Woiwurrung: ^{(please verify)} woo
• Yiddish: וויי m (vey)

Adjective

woe (comparative more woe, superlative most woe)

1. (obsolete) Woeful; sorrowful

   Synonyms: miserable; see also Thesaurus:sad

   • 1303, Robert of Brunne, Handlyng synne:

     hys clerk was wo to do þat dede

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 53:

     And looking vp, when as his shield he lakt, / And sword saw not, he wexed wondrous woe

   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 17:

     Prospero: I am woe for't, Sir.

   • 1890, Joseph Jacobs, “Childe Rowland”, in English Fairy Tales, page 118:

     But long they waited, and longer still, / With doubt and muckle pain, / But woe were the hearts of his brethren, / For he came not back again.

Interjection

woe

1. (archaic) An exclamation of grief.
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 2:

     Miranda: O woe, the day.

Translations

exclamation of grief

• Amharic: ወዮ (wäyo)
• Arabic: وَيْل (wayl)
• Aramaic:

  Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: וַי (way)

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 唉 (zh) (āi)

• Cornish: go
• Czech: běda (cs)
• Esperanto: ve (eo)
• Finnish: voi (fi)
• French: hélas (fr)
• Gagauz: yazık
• Galician: ai (gl)
• German: weh (de)
• Gothic: 𐍅𐌰𐌹 (wai)
• Greek: ουαί (el) (ouaí), φευ (el) (fef)

  Ancient Greek: οὐαί (ouaí), φεῦ (pheû)

• Hebrew: אוֹי (he) (oy), אֲהָהּ (he) (aháh) (Biblical), וַי (he) (vay) (Talmudic)
• Italian: ahimè (it), ohimè
• Japanese: ああ (ja) (ā), あたら (ja) (atara)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: وەی (ckb) (wey)

• Latin: vae, heu, ēheu (la)
• Malay: alahai, aduh (ms), aduhai (ms)
• Old English: wæ
• Persian: وای (fa) (vây)
• Polish: biada (pl)
• Punjabi:

  Gurmukhi: ਹਾਏ (hāē)

  Shahmukhi: ہائے (hā'ē)

• Romanian: vai (ro)
• Russian: го́ре (ru) (góre)
• Spanish: ay (es)
• Sranan Tongo: eru
• Turkish: yazık (tr)
• Urdu: ہائے (hā'yē)

Etymology 2

Noun

woe (plural woes)

1. (slang, Baltimore, African-American Vernacular) A close friend; a nigga, homie or bro.

Anagrams

• owe

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈvoɛ]

Interjection

woe

1. (informal) abbreviation of vole (man, dude)
2. ellipsis of ty vole

Limburgish

Alternative forms

• wu, wuë (Eupen)
• wooe (Krefeld)
• boe (Maastrichtian)
• wo

Adverb

woe

1. where

   Woe is Sjeng? ― Where is Sjeng?

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *wuo, from Proto-Germanic *hwō.

Adverb

woe

1. (eastern) alternative form of hoe

Middle English

Pronoun

woe

1. (Herebert) alternative form of we (“we”)

Tewa

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wòː/ [wòː]

Noun

woe

1. medicine

References

• Martinez, Esther (1982), San Juan Pueblo Téwa Dictionary, San Juan Pueblo Bilingual Program, San Juan Pueblo, New Mexico: Bishop Publishing Co., →OCLC, page 25