woe

English

Etymology

From Middle English wo, wei, wa, from Old English wā, wǣ, from Proto-West Germanic *wai, from Proto-Germanic *wai (interjection), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wáy (interjection).

See also Dutch wee, German Weh, weh, Danish ve, Yiddish וויי (vey); also Latin vae, Albanian vaj, French ouais, Ancient Greek οὐαί (ouaí), Persian وای (vây) (Turkish vay, a Persian borrowing), and Armenian վայ (vay).

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊ
• Homophone: whoa (in accents with the wine-whine merger)

Noun

woe (countable and uncountable, plural woes)

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

   Synonyms: grief, sorrow, misery

   • 1667, John Milton, “(please specify the book number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →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.
   • 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!

3. A curse; a malediction.
   • 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, 6th edition, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] J[ames] Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1727, →OCLC:

     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
• woeful
• woe is me
• woe to

 

Translations

grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity

• Arabic: حَزَن (ḥazan)
• Aramaic:

  Classical Syriac: ܘܵܝܵܐ (wāya)

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

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

• Czech: trápení (cs) n, strast f, běda 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
• 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)
• Italian: dolore (it) m, disgrazia (it) f, guaio (it) m
• Latin: dolor (la), luctus
• Low German:

  German Low German: Weh n

• Maori: aitu
• Norwegian: sorg (no) m
• 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
• Swedish: sorg (sv), ve (sv)
• Turkish: dert (tr), gam (tr), keder (tr), teessür (tr), üzüntü (tr)
• Vietnamese: khốn (vi)

Adjective

woe (comparative more woe, superlative most woe)

1. (obsolete) Woeful; sorrowful
   • 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.

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

• Arabic: وَيْل (wayl)
• Aramaic:

  Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: וַי (way)

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 唉 (zh) (āi)

• Czech: běda
• Esperanto: ve (eo)
• Finnish: voi (fi)
• French: hélas (fr)
• German: weh (de)
• Gothic: 𐍅𐌰𐌹 (wai)
• Greek: ουαί (el) (ouaí), φευ (el) (fef)

  Ancient: οὐαί (ouaí), φεῦ (pheû)

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

  Central Kurdish: وەی (ckb) (wey)

• Latin: vae, heu, ēheu (la)
• 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)
• Urdu: ہائے (hā'yē)

Anagrams

• owe

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. Alternative form of we (“we”)