oy vey

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*wai
2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*wai
3. Old High German · derived fromwē
4. Middle High German · derived fromōwē
5. Yiddish · borrowed fromאוי וויי
6. English todayoy vey

Borrowed from Yiddish אוי וויי (oy vey, literally “oh woe”), from Middle High German ōwē, from ō + wē, the latter being from Old High German wē, from Proto-Germanic *wai, from Proto-Indo-European *wai. Cognate with German o weh, Dutch oh wee, Latin vae, and Esperanto ho ve.

Words from the same roots