woe
English
/wəʊ/, /woʊ/
noun
Definitions
- Great sadness or distress; a misfortune causing such sadness.
- Calamity, trouble.
- A curse; a malediction.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English wo inherited from Old English wā (woe) inherited from Proto-Germanic *wai (woe, expression of grief) inherited from Proto-Indo-European *wáy.
Origin
Proto-Indo-European
*wáy
Gloss
Timeline
Distribution of cognates by language
Geogrpahic distribution of cognates
Cognates and derived terms
- begone English
- fare English
- woebegone English
- woebegonely English
- woebegoneness English
- woefare English
- woeful English
- woefully English
- woefulness English
- woeless English
- woesome English
- lamentari Latin
- vae Latin
- Fernweh German
- Heimweh German
- Weh German
- Wehmut German
- Wehmutter German
- Weinkrampf German
- Wenigkeit German
- Zahnweh German
- ausweinen German
- beweinen German
- blutwenig German
- ebensowenig German
- weh German
- wehklagen German
- wehtun German
- weinen German
- wenig German
- guai Italian
- guaio Italian
- heimwee Dutch, Flemish
- nawee Dutch, Flemish
- wee Dutch, Flemish
- weeklagen Dutch, Flemish
- weemoed Dutch, Flemish
- weemoedig Dutch, Flemish
- увы Russian
- οὐαί Ancient Greek
- *wai Proto-Indo-European
- *wáy Proto-Indo-European
- *wai Proto-Germanic
- wa Old English
- wā Old English
- wābegān Old English
- wo Middle English
- wofare Middle English
- woo Middle English
- vei Old Norse
- váði Old Norse
- væla Old Norse
- ildsvåde Danish
- ve Danish
- vemod Danish
- våde Danish
- ve Esperanto
- վայ Armenian
- وای Persian
- wē Old High German
- վայ Old Armenian
- vay Turkish
- we Middle High German
- weinec Middle High German
- weinen Middle High German
- kukuvajkë Albanian
- vaj Albanian
- 𐍅𐌰𐌹 Gothic
- אוי וויי Yiddish
- *wē Old Dutch
- *wai Proto-Italic
- wae Scots
- *wai, *wē Frankish
- *u̯ɔλa Proto-Albanian
- Heemweh Pennsylvania German
- Weh Pennsylvania German
- wehmache Hunsrik