Source etymology 1
Original entry ↗noun
Great sadness or distress; a misfortune causing such sadness. · Calamity, trouble. · A curse; a malediction.
adj
Woeful; sorrowful
intj
Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventoryAn exclamation of grief.
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, Norwegian Bokmål, 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”).
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
- Inherited-form mentionwoenm
- Inherited-form mentionwāang
- Inherited-form mention*waigmw-pro
- Inherited-form mention*waigem-pro · woe!
- Inherited-form mention*wáyine-pro · oh!; ah!; woe!; alas!
- Cognate mentionwaesco · woe
- Cognate mentionbèa baartcim · woe!
- Cognate mentionweenl · nauseating
- Cognate mentionWehde
- Cognate mentionווייyi · pain; woe
- Cognate mentionvælis · cry, wail
- Cognate mention𐍅𐌰𐌹got · woe!
- Cognate mentiongewkw
- Cognate mentiongwaecy · misery, woe
- Cognate mentionguaylad
- Cognate mentionvaela · woe
- Cognate mentionvairo · woe
- Cognate mentionguayes · way
- Cognate mentionοὐαίgrc · woe!
- Cognate mentionvajsq · woe!
- Cognate mentionvailv · oh!
- Cognate mentionуви́bg · alas
- Cognate mentionувы́ru · alas!
- Cognate mentionавајsh
- Cognate mentionվայhy · sorrow, woe
- Cognate mentionوایfa · woe
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
{
"templates": [
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "enm",
"3": "wo"
},
"expansion": "Middle English wo"
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "ang",
"3": "wā"
},
"expansion": "Old English wā"
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "gmw-pro",
"3": "*wai",
"pos": "interjection"
},
"expansion": "Proto-West Germanic *wai (interjection)"
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "gem-pro",
"3": "*wai",
"pos": "interjection",
"t": "woe!"
},
"expansion": "Proto-Germanic *wai (“woe!”, interjection)"
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "ine-pro",
"3": "*wáy",
"pos": "interjection",
"t": "oh!; ah!; woe!; alas!"
},
"expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *wáy (“oh!; ah!; woe!; alas!”, interjection)"
},
{
"name": "col-top",
"args": {
"1": "2",
"2": "cog"
},
"expansion": "Cognates"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "sco",
"2": "wae",
"t": "woe"
},
"expansion": "Scots wae (“woe”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "cim",
"2": "bèa baart",
"alt": "bèa",
"t": "woe!"
},
"expansion": "Cimbrian bèa (“woe!”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "nl",
"2": "wee",
"t": "nauseating"
},
"expansion": "Dutch wee (“nauseating”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "de",
"2": "Weh"
},
"expansion": "German Weh"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "yi",
"2": "וויי",
"t": "pain; woe"
},
"expansion": "Yiddish וויי (vey, “pain; woe”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "da,nn,nb,sv",
"2": "ve",
"t": "woe"
},
"expansion": "Danish, Norwegian Nynorsk, Norwegian Bokmål, and Swedish ve (“woe”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "is",
"2": "væl",
"t": "cry, wail"
},
"expansion": "Icelandic væl (“cry, wail”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "got",
"2": "𐍅𐌰𐌹",
"t": "woe!"
},
"expansion": "Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌹 (wai, “woe!”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "kw",
"2": "gew"
},
"expansion": "Cornish gew"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "cy",
"2": "gwae",
"t": "misery, woe"
},
"expansion": "Welsh gwae (“misery, woe”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "ca,it,pt",
"2": "guai",
"t": "woe!"
},
"expansion": "Catalan, Italian, and Portuguese guai (“woe!”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "lad",
"2": "guay"
},
"expansion": "Ladino guay"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "la",
"2": "vae",
"t": "woe"
},
"expansion": "Latin vae (“woe”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "ro",
"2": "vai",
"t": "woe"
},
"expansion": "Romanian vai (“woe”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "es",
"2": "guay",
"t": "way"
},
"expansion": "Spanish guay (“way”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "grc",
"2": "οὐαί",
"t": "woe!"
},
"expansion": "Ancient Greek οὐαί (ouaí, “woe!”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "sq",
"2": "vaj",
"t": "woe!"
},
"expansion": "Albanian vaj (“woe!”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "lv",
"2": "vai",
"t": "oh!"
},
"expansion": "Latvian vai (“oh!”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "bg",
"2": "уви́",
"t": "alas"
},
"expansion": "Bulgarian уви́ (uví, “alas”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "ru",
"2": "увы́",
"t": "alas!"
},
"expansion": "Russian увы́ (uvý, “alas!”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "sh",
"2": "авај"
},
"expansion": "Serbo-Croatian авај"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "hy",
"2": "վայ",
"t": "sorrow, woe"
},
"expansion": "Armenian վայ (vay, “sorrow, woe”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "fa",
"2": "وای",
"tr": "vây",
"t": "woe"
},
"expansion": "Persian وای (vây, “woe”)"
}
],
"links": [
[
"wo",
"wo#Middle_English"
],
[
"woo",
"woo#Middle_English"
],
[
"wā",
"wa#Old_English"
],
[
"wǣ",
"wæ#Old_English"
],
[
"*wai",
"Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/wai"
],
[
"*wai",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/wai"
],
[
"*wáy",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/wáy"
],
[
"wae",
"wae#Scots"
],
[
"bèa",
"bèa baart#Cimbrian"
],
[
"wee",
"wee#Dutch"
],
[
"Weh",
"Weh#German"
],
[
"Wehe",
"Wehe#German"
],
[
"וויי",
"וויי#Yiddish"
],
[
"Danish",
"ve#Danish"
],
[
"Norwegian Nynorsk",
"ve#Norwegian_Nynorsk"
],
[
"Norwegian Bokmål",
"ve#Norwegian_Bokmål"
],
[
"ve",
"ve#Swedish"
],
[
"væl",
"væl#Icelandic"
],
[
"væla",
"væla#Icelandic"
],
[
"𐍅𐌰𐌹",
"𐍅𐌰𐌹#Gothic"
],
[
"gew",
"gew#Cornish"
],
[
"go",
"go#Cornish"
],
[
"gwae",
"gwae#Welsh"
],
[
"Catalan",
"guai#Catalan"
],
[
"Italian",
"guai#Italian"
],
[
"guai",
"guai#Portuguese"
],
[
"guay",
"guay#Ladino"
],
[
"גואי",
"גואי#Ladino"
],
[
"vae",
"vae#Latin"
],
[
"vai",
"vai#Romanian"
],
[
"guay",
"guay#Spanish"
],
[
"οὐαί",
"οὐαί#Ancient_Greek"
],
[
"vaj",
"vaj#Albanian"
],
[
"vai",
"vai#Latvian"
],
[
"уви́",
"уви#Bulgarian"
],
[
"увы́",
"увы#Russian"
],
[
"авај",
"авај#Serbo-Croatian"
],
[
"avaj",
"avaj#Serbo-Croatian"
],
[
"վայ",
"վայ#Armenian"
],
[
"وای",
"وای#Persian"
]
],
"references": [],
"descendants": [],
"lexical": [
{
"pos": "noun",
"glosses": [
"Great sadness or distress; a misfortune causing such sadness.",
"Calamity, trouble.",
"A curse; a malediction."
],
"tags": [
"countable",
"uncountable"
],
"recordId": "21be3bbc1b01630bd76e85643f83960472c56f67422ea0e3097105dd27733bcb",
"rawRecordSha256": "8c1f835d613654a744b71a18dfec5b7f27c20fd95b064ebb5a112c539f3814f9",
"sourceRecordOrdinal": 234591
},
{
"pos": "adj",
"glosses": [
"Woeful; sorrowful"
],
"tags": [
"obsolete"
],
"recordId": "e69c105b02821ee532af4e45e24d3c0a88af5abdbc2effe90303af73076f9da6",
"rawRecordSha256": "dcf707a6818db1fb49b6d51ee171dfbd37a76246110fd70ed8199f95d4bac150",
"sourceRecordOrdinal": 234592
},
{
"pos": "intj",
"glosses": [
"An exclamation of grief."
],
"tags": [
"archaic"
],
"recordId": "f227fb68c6501922a7fcc2e6b6c05ae9144d63a2636eeeda81db7b2f06e21bc8",
"rawRecordSha256": "6478aaac433221ab27d20b0eb0e386a4d8aafd0339e27c8b19c484696686b0cd",
"sourceRecordOrdinal": 234593
}
],
"omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
"templates": 0,
"links": 0,
"references": 0,
"descendants": 0,
"lexicalRecords": 0,
"lexicalSenses": 0,
"glosses": 0
}
}