# woe
## English
### Etymology

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).

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /wəʊ/
* (General American) enPR: wō, IPA: /woʊ/
* Audio (General American):(file)
* Rhymes: -əʊ
* Homophone: whoa (wine–whine merger)

### Noun

woe (countable and uncountable, plural woes)
* Great sadness or distress; a misfortune causing such sadness.
    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.
** 1717, Alexander Pope, “Eloisa to Abelard”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, →OCLC:Soon as thy letters trembling I unclose / That well-known name awakens all my woes.
** 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.
* 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 (lyrics and music), “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
* 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?

#### Derived terms

* for weal or woe
* in weal and woe
* tale of woe
* woebegone
* woe betide
* woeful
* woe is me
* woe to

#### Translations

Arabic: حَزَن (ḥazan)
Aramaic:
Classical Syriac: ܘܵܝܵܐ (wāya)
Bulgarian: беда (bg) f (beda), злочестие n (zločestie), скръб (bg) f (skrǎb)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 悲痛 (zh) (bēitòng), 悲慟 / 悲恸 (zh) (bēitòng), 悲恸 (zh) (bēitòng)
Cornish: gew m
Czech: trápení (cs) n, strast (cs) f, běda (cs) f, hoře (cs) n
Dutch: droefheid (nl), lijden (nl), ellende (nl), ongeluk (nl)
Egyptian: (jꜥnw)
Finnish: suru (fi), tuska (fi)
French: tristesse (fr) f, douleur (fr) f, misère (fr) f, malheur (fr) m
German: Weh (de) n, Jammer (de) m, Kummer (de) m, Leid (de) n
Greek: θλίψη (el) f (thlípsi), συμφορά (el) f (symforá)
Hebrew: אבוי (he) (avoy), צער (he) m (tsa'ar), יגון (he) m (yagon)
Italian: dolore (it) m, disgrazia (it) f, guaio (it) m
Latin: dolor (la), luctus
Low German:
German Low German: Weh n
Maori: aitu
Norwegian: sorg (no) m
Occitan: dolor (oc) f, patiment (oc) m, patiràs m
Polish: nieszczęście (pl) n, żałość (pl) f, cierpienie (pl) n, niedola (pl) f
Portuguese: desgraça (pt) f, infelicidade (pt) f, mágoa (pt) f
Romanian: durere (ro) f, suferință (ro) f, mâhnire (ro) f, nenorocire (ro) f
Russian: печа́ль (ru) f (pečálʹ), грусть (ru) f (grustʹ), го́ре (ru) (góre)
Scottish Gaelic: dòlas m, truaighe f, sgad m
Spanish: pena (es) f, infortunio (es) m, ay (es) m
Swedish: sorg (sv), ve (sv)
Turkish: üzüntü (tr), sıkıntı (tr), kaygı (tr), ur (tr) dert (tr), gam (tr), keder (tr), teessür (tr),
Vietnamese: khốn (vi) :

### Adjective

woe (comparative more woe, superlative most woe)
* (obsolete) Woeful; sorrowful
    Synonyms: miserable; see also Thesaurus:sad
** 1303, Robert of Brunne, Handlyng synne:hys clerk was wo to do þat dede
** 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 53:And looking vp, when as his shield he lakt, / And sword saw not, he wexed wondrous woe
** 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 17:Prospero: I am woe for't, Sir.

### Interjection

woe
* (archaic) An exclamation of grief.
** 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 2:Miranda: O woe, the day.

#### Translations
### Anagrams

* owe

## Limburgish
### Alternative forms

* wu, wuë (Eupen)
* wooe (Krefeld)
* boe (Maastrichtian)
* wo

### Adverb

woe
* where
    Woe is Sjeng? ― Where is Sjeng?

## Middle Dutch
### Etymology

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

### Adverb

woe
* (eastern) Alternative form of hoe

## Middle English
### Pronoun

woe
* (Herebert) Alternative form of we (“we”)