woe

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• Received-Pronunciation: /wəʊ/
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• General-American: wō
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• General-American: /woʊ/
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• General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• rhymes with -əʊ
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• homophone: whoa (wine–whine merger)
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• CMU ARPABET: W OW1 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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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, 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”).

119 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Amharic: ወዮ (wäyo) — exclamation of grief
• Arabic: وَيْل (wayl) — exclamation of grief
• Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: וַי (way) — exclamation of grief
• Chinese Mandarin: 唉 (āi) — exclamation of grief
• Cornish: go — exclamation of grief
• Czech: běda — exclamation of grief
• Esperanto: ve — exclamation of grief
• Finnish: voi — exclamation of grief
• French: hélas — exclamation of grief
• Gagauz: yazık — exclamation of grief
• Galician: ai — exclamation of grief
• German: weh — exclamation of grief
• Gothic: 𐍅𐌰𐌹 (wai) — exclamation of grief
• Greek: ουαί (ouaí) — exclamation of grief
• Greek: φευ (fef) — exclamation of grief
• Ancient Greek: οὐαί (ouaí) — exclamation of grief
• Ancient Greek: φεῦ (pheû) — exclamation of grief
• Hebrew: אוֹי (oy) — exclamation of grief
• Hebrew: אֲהָהּ (aháh) — exclamation of grief
• Hebrew: וַי (vay) — exclamation of grief
• Italian: ahimè — exclamation of grief
• Italian: ohimè — exclamation of grief
• Japanese: ああ (ā) — exclamation of grief
• Japanese: あたら (atara) — exclamation of grief
• Central Kurdish: وەی (wey) — exclamation of grief
• Latin: vae — exclamation of grief
• Latin: heu — exclamation of grief
• Latin: ēheu — exclamation of grief
• Old English: wæ — exclamation of grief
• Persian: وای (vây) — exclamation of grief
• Polish: biada — exclamation of grief
• Punjabi: ਹਾਏ (hāē) — exclamation of grief
• Punjabi: ہائے (hā'ē) — exclamation of grief
• Romanian: vai — exclamation of grief
• Russian: го́ре (góre) — exclamation of grief
• Spanish: ay — exclamation of grief
• Sranan Tongo: eru — exclamation of grief
• Turkish: yazık — exclamation of grief
• Urdu: ہائے (hā'yē) — exclamation of grief
• Arabic: حَزَن (ḥazan) — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Aramaic: ܘܵܝܵܐ (wāya) — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Bulgarian: беда (beda) — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Bulgarian: злочестие (zločestie) — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Bulgarian: скръб (skrǎb) — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Chinese Mandarin: 悲痛 (bēitòng) — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Chinese Mandarin: 悲慟 /悲恸 (bēitòng) — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Chinese Mandarin: 悲恸 (bēitòng) — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Cornish: gew — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Czech: trápení — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Czech: strast — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Czech: běda — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Czech: hoře — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Dutch: droefheid — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Dutch: lijden — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Dutch: ellende — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Dutch: ongeluk — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Egyptian: i-a:n-nw-W-A2 (jꜥnw) — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Finnish: suru — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Finnish: tuska — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• French: tristesse — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• French: douleur — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• French: misère — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• French: malheur — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Galician: aflición — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Galician: mágoa — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Galician: infelicidade — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• German: Weh — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• German: Jammer — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• German: Kummer — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• German: Leid — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Greek: θλίψη (thlípsi) — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Greek: συμφορά (symforá) — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Hebrew: אבוי (avoy) — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Hebrew: צער (tsa'ar) — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Hebrew: יגון (yagon) — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Italian: dolore — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Italian: disgrazia — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Italian: guaio — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Latin: dolor — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Latin: luctus — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Low German: Weh — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Māori: aitu — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Norwegian: sorg — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Occitan: dolor — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Occitan: patiment — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Occitan: patiràs — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Polish: nieszczęście — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Polish: żałość — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Polish: cierpienie — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Polish: niedola — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Portuguese: desgraça — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Portuguese: infelicidade — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Portuguese: mágoa — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Romanian: durere — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Romanian: suferință — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Romanian: mâhnire — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Romanian: nenorocire — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Russian: печа́ль (pečálʹ) — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Russian: грусть (grustʹ) — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Russian: го́ре (góre) — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Scottish Gaelic: dòlas — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Scottish Gaelic: truaighe — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Scottish Gaelic: sgad — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Spanish: pena — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Spanish: infortunio — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Spanish: ay — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Spanish: congoja — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Spanish: mal — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Swedish: sorg — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Swedish: ve — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Turkish: üzüntü — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Turkish: sıkıntı — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Turkish: kaygı — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Turkish: ur dert — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Turkish: gam — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Turkish: keder — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Turkish: teessür — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Vietnamese: khốn — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
• Yiddish: וויי (vey) — grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity