aiyo

English

Etymology

Mainly borrowed from Tamil ஐயோ (aiyō) and Sinhalese අයියෝ (ayiyō). Common in Dravidian languages; compare Telugu అయ్యో (ayyō), Kannada ಅಯ್ಯೋ (ayyō), Malayalam അയ്യോ (ayyō), Tulu ಅಯ್ಯೋ (ayyō). Alternatively from Chinese 哎喲 / 哎哟 (āiyō) in Malaysia and Singapore.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aɪˈjoʊ/
• (Singapore) IPA^(key): /aɪˈjoʊ/, [ˌaɪ(˦)˨ ˈjoʊ˨˦˧]

Interjection

aiyo

1. (South India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, informal) Expressing distress, regret, fear
   • 1886, Chamber's Journal. 20 Mar. 184/1:

     'Are you crying for your father?' 'Aiyo, aiyo!' wailed the girl. 'I shall never see him again!'

   • 1913, L. Woolf, Village in Jungle ii. 28:

     Aiyo! aiyo! My little Podi Sinho!

   • 1971, Fashion Panaroma (Ceylon) Apr. 31:

     'Aiyo its our Kalu' they all cried.

   • 1982, R.K. Narayan, Tiger for Malgudi (1984) 119:

     Aiyo! Never thought our beloved principal will come to this end.

   • 1985, Pao Kun Kuo, The Coffin Is Too Big For The Hole, →ISBN:

     Aiyow! I don't know how I got the compulsion to say all that. But I really did.

   • 2009, S. Manickavasagam, Power of Passion 218:

     Vijaya touched Rajam's forehead and exclaimed, Aiyo. She is running very high temperature.

Anagrams

• Yaoi, yaoi

Ye'kwana

Variant orthographies

ALIV	aiyo
Brazilian standard	aiyo
New Tribes	aiyo

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ajjo]

Verb

aiyo

1. (transitive) to break

Derived terms

• ataiyo

 

References

• Cáceres, Natalia (2011) “aiyo”, in Grammaire Fonctionnelle-Typologique du Ye’kwana‎^[1], Lyon