woe - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Abbreviation of English Woleaian.

woe

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

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”).

woe (countable and uncountable, plural woes)

  1. Great sadness or distress; a misfortune causing such sadness.
    Oh, woe is me!
    Synonyms: 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.
    • 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?

woe (comparative more woe, superlative most woe)

  1. (obsolete) Woeful; sorrowful
    Synonyms: miserable; see also Thesaurus:sad

woe

  1. (archaic) An exclamation of grief.

exclamation of grief

woe

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

woe

  1. where
    Woe is Sjeng? ― Where is Sjeng?

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

woe

  1. (eastern) alternative form of hoe

woe

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

woe

  1. medicine