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Woe

//wəʊ// adj, intj, noun

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Woeful; sorrowful obsolete

    "hys clerk was wo to do þat dede"

Intj
  1. 1
    An exclamation of grief. archaic

    "Miranda: O woe, the day."

Noun
  1. 1
    Great sadness or distress; a misfortune causing such sadness. countable, uncountable

    "Oh, woe is me!"

  2. 2
    intense mournfulness wordnet
  3. 3
    Calamity, trouble. countable, uncountable

    "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!"

  4. 4
    misery resulting from affliction wordnet
  5. 5
    A curse; a malediction. countable, uncountable

    "Can there be a woe or curse in all the stores of vengeance equal to the malignity of such a practice?"

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English wo, wei, wa, from Old English wā, wǣ, from Proto-West Germanic *wai, from Proto-Germanic *wai (interjection), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wáy (interjection). See also Dutch wee, German Weh, weh, Danish ve, Yiddish וויי (vey); also Latin vae, Albanian vaj, French ouais, Ancient Greek οὐαί (ouaí), Persian وای (vây) (Turkish vay, a Persian borrowing), Proto-Slavic *uvy (whence Russian увы́ (uvý)), and Armenian վայ (vay).

Etymology 2

From Middle English wo, wei, wa, from Old English wā, wǣ, from Proto-West Germanic *wai, from Proto-Germanic *wai (interjection), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wáy (interjection). See also Dutch wee, German Weh, weh, Danish ve, Yiddish וויי (vey); also Latin vae, Albanian vaj, French ouais, Ancient Greek οὐαί (ouaí), Persian وای (vây) (Turkish vay, a Persian borrowing), Proto-Slavic *uvy (whence Russian увы́ (uvý)), and Armenian վայ (vay).

Etymology 3

From Middle English wo, wei, wa, from Old English wā, wǣ, from Proto-West Germanic *wai, from Proto-Germanic *wai (interjection), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wáy (interjection). See also Dutch wee, German Weh, weh, Danish ve, Yiddish וויי (vey); also Latin vae, Albanian vaj, French ouais, Ancient Greek οὐαί (ouaí), Persian وای (vây) (Turkish vay, a Persian borrowing), Proto-Slavic *uvy (whence Russian увы́ (uvý)), and Armenian վայ (vay).

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