Oi
intj, noun, pron ·1 syllable ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A working-class punk rock subgenre of the 1970s, sometimes associated with racism. Commonwealth, Hong-Kong, Ireland, UK, capitalized, impolite, sometimes, uncountable, usually
"A way for Oi musicians to avoid responsibility for acts of violence that were preceded by listening to Oi is the claim that what people do with their music is out of the control of the musicians themselves."
- 2 Initialism of opportunistic infection. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
- 3 Initialism of osteogenesis imperfecta. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
- 4 Abbreviation of object of interest. abbreviation, alt-of
- 1 Said to get someone's attention; hey. Commonwealth, Hong-Kong, Ireland, UK, impolite, usually
"Oi, you with the red hat – what do you think you're doing?"
- 2 Alternative spelling of oy. Commonwealth, Hong-Kong, Ireland, UK, alt-of, alternative, impolite, usually
- 3 Alternative spelling of oy. Commonwealth, Hong-Kong, Ireland, UK, alt-of, alternative, impolite, usually
- 4 An expression of surprise. Commonwealth, Hong-Kong, Ireland, UK, impolite, usually
"Oi! This is new!"
- 5 An informal greeting, similar to hi. Commonwealth, Hong-Kong, Ireland, UK, impolite, usually
"Oi! How's it going?"
- 1 Eye dialect of I Commonwealth, Hong-Kong, Ireland, UK, impolite, usually
"Why, where be oi, and what be oi a doin’, / A sleepin’ out, just when the dews du rise?"
- 2 Pronunciation spelling of I. alt-of, pronunciation-spelling
Example
More examples"Oi you, that's too much of a rip off by anyone's count! 6:4 is more than enough. Of course I'm the '6'."
Etymology
Variant of the interjection hoy with h-dropping in working class and Cockney speech; first recorded in the 1930s. Compare also unrelated Portuguese oi and Japanese おい (oi).
Variant of oy, from Yiddish.
Borrowed from oyez, 2nd person plural imperative of the verb oir (“to listen”), as used as an interjection in duplicated form “Oyez, oyez” by public speakers of medieval times to draw attention before a public address; see oi oi.
Related phrases
More for "oi"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.