oy vey

Meanings

interjection

slangascribed to Jewish people; potentially offensive; ascribed to Jewish people; potentially offensiveoh dear
Alternatively, some view "oy vey" as being entirely Yiddish (Judeo-German) in origin.
2025 December 18 (last accessed), “What Does “Oy Vey” Mean?”, in Chabad.org, archived from the original on 13 May 2025

verboy vey (third-person singular simple present oy veys, present participle oy veying, simple past and past participle oy veyed)

present singular third person oy veys · participle present oy veying · participle past oy veyed · past oy veyed · alternative oy-vey

intransitiveTo utter the phrase oy vey.
I suppose that’s not surprising, given the spiritual milieu in which I grew up. My mother gasped in sorrow at any news of a bombing in Israel and appropriately “oy veyed” when a Jew was accused of a crime, but she couldn’t tell you what the Shabbat blessing meant.
2019 June 18, Debra Jacobs, “I Didn’t Believe in God. Then I Had Kids.”, in Kveller, archived from the original on 19 Mar 2025

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

oofta oy gevalt

Origin

Proto-Indo-European*wai
Proto-Germanic*wai
Old High Germanwē
Middle High Germanōwē
Yiddishאוי וויי
Englishoy 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.