woi

See also: Woi and wòi

Abinomn

Noun

woi

1. grandfather
2. bird-of-paradise

Bavarian

Alternative forms

• wohl (Southern Bavarian)

Etymology

From Middle High German wol, wole, from Old High German wola (“well”), from Proto-Germanic *wela, from Proto-Indo-European *welh₁-. Compare German wohl, Dutch wel, English well, Danish vel, Swedish väl.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /voe/

Adverb

woi

1. well, healthy

   Is da ned woi? ― Are you not feeling well?

2. (modal particle expressing an assumption, often like English must + infinitive, or (US) guess + clause): probably, possibly, seemingly

   De håm se woi wås eigfånga. ― They've probably caught something.

   Du bist woi ned gånz gscheid. ― You must be crazy.

Interjection

woi

1. in response to a negative question or statement: yes; surely; really; on the contrary

   Des is jå ned wåhr. — Woi! ― That's not true. — Yes, it is!

   Kummst heit auf d'Nåcht ned? — Woi! ― Aren't you coming tonight?? — Yes, I am!

Indonesian

Etymology

Possibly from Cantonese 喂 (wai²) or Min Nan 喂 (oeh). Doublet of oi and hoi.

Interjection

woi

1. hey
2. hello

Alternative forms

• woy (colloquial)

Further reading

• “woi” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Mokilese

Etymology

From Proto-Oceanic *pon̄u (“green sea turtle”), from Proto-Austronesian *peñu (“turtle”)

Noun

woi

1. sea turtle

Inflection

Forms of woi

Demonstrative formss	Singular	Plural
1st person (near speaker)	woie	woikai
2nd person (near hearer)	woien	woiken
3rd person (near neither speaker nor hearer)	woio	woiok
Article forms
indefinite	woimen	woipwi
definite	woiwa	woiwa

Ye'kwana

Variant orthographies

ALIV	woi
Brazilian standard	woi
New Tribes	woi

Etymology

Compare Kari'na wòi, Trió oi.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [βoj]

Noun

woi (possessed woichü)

1. a kind of wild elephant ear plant (genus Xanthosoma), considered the most potent of all magical herbs (mada) as a defense against supernatural threats

References

• Cáceres, Natalia (2011) “woi”, in Grammaire Fonctionnelle-Typologique du Ye’kwana‎^[1], Lyon
• Hall, Katherine Lee (1988) “wo:i”, in The morphosyntax of discourse in De'kwana Carib, volumes I and II, Saint Louis, Missouri: PhD Thesis, Washington University
• Guss, David M. (1989) To Weave and Sing: Art, Symbol, and Narrative in the South American Rain Forest, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, →ISBN, pages 56–57, 102, 240: “woi”
• Lauer, Matthew Taylor (2005) Fertility in Amazonia: Indigenous Concepts of the Human Reproductive Process Among the Ye’kwana of Southern Venezuela‎^[2], Santa Barbara: University of California, page 220: “woi”
• Gongora, Majoí Fávero (2017) Ääma ashichaato: replicações, transformações, pessoas e cantos entre os Ye’kwana do rio Auaris‎^[3], corrected edition, São Paulo: Universidade de São Paulo, pages 97, 176, 193, 196, 200, 207, 418: “woi”