Serbo-Croatian

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Etymology

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Inherited from Proto-Slavic *uvy, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wai. Cognate with English woe, Latin vae, Lithuanian vaĩ, Sanskrit उवे (uvé), Hittite [script needed] (uwai), Persian وای (vây).

Pronunciation

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Interjection

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а̀ва̄ј (Latin spelling àvāj)

  1. (literary) alas!