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Etymology · Proto-Indo-European

*wáy

3 English words descend from Proto-Indo-European *wáy, most common first.

woeGreat sadness or distress; a misfortune causing such sadness.
wailTo cry out, as in sorrow or anguish.
woebegoneOf a person: deeply affected or overwhelmed by suffering or trouble, and so filled with woe (“great distress or sadness”); (loosely) forlorn, sad, unhappy.