Abbreviation of English Woleaian.

woe

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Woleaian.

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Woleaian terms

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).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /wəʊ/
• (General American) enPR: wō, IPA^(key): /woʊ/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊ
• Homophone: whoa (wine–whine merger)

woe (countable and uncountable, plural woes)

1. Great sadness or distress; a misfortune causing such sadness.

   Oh, woe is me!

   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.

2. 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, “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

3. 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?

woe (comparative more woe, superlative most woe)

1. (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.

woe

1. (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.

• owe

• IPA^(key): [ˈvoɛ]

woe

1. (informal) abbreviation of vole (man, dude)
2. ellipsis of ty vole

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

woe

1. where

   Woe is Sjeng? ― Where is Sjeng?

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

woe

1. (eastern) alternative form of hoe

woe

1. (Herebert) alternative form of we (“we”)

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