woe is me

English

Etymology

The pronoun me expresses the dative, thus literally “woe is to me”, or in more idiomatic English “on me”. Compare the identical German weh ist mir and Yiddish וויי איז מיר (vey iz mir).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌwəʊ ɪz ˈmiː/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌwoʊ ɪz ˈmi/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Interjection

woe is me

1. (sometimes humorous) Used to show that the speaker feels distress or misery.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], page 266, column 1:

     Blasted with extasie. Oh, woe is me,
     T'haue seene what I haue seene: see what I see.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 120:5:

     Woe is me, that I soiourne in Mesech: that I dwell in the tents of Kedar.

Translations

interjection

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 哀哉 (zh) (āizāi)

• Cornish: go vy
• Dutch: wee mij
• Esperanto: ve al mi
• Finnish: voi minua
• French: pauvre de moi
• German: weh mir
• Greek: οίμοι (el) (oímoi)

  Ancient: οἴμοι (oímoi)

• Hebrew: אוֹי לִי (oy li)
• Hungarian: jaj nekem (hu)
• Irish: abhó
• Italian: ahimè (it)
• Ladino: guay de mí
• Latin: mē miserum
• Manx: voirrey s'treih
• Maori: koae
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: stakkars meg

• Persian: وای من (vây-e man)
• Polish: biada mi
• Portuguese: ai de mim
• Romanian: vai de mine, vai mie
• Russian: го́ре мне (góre mne)
• Scottish Gaelic: mo thruaighe, a thruaighe
• Spanish: ¡ay de mí!, ¡pobre de mí!
• Swedish: stackars mig!
• Yiddish: אַ בראָך איז מיר (a brokh iz mir), אַ קלאָג איז מיר (a klog iz mir), וויי איז מיר (vey iz mir), וויי איז צו מיר (vey iz tsu mir), ווינד איז מיר (vind iz mir)