alas

See also álás, alās, and άλας

English

Etymology

From Old French a las (French hélas), from a (“ah”) + las, from Latin lassus (“weary”).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɑːs
• IPA: /əˈlas/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Interjection

alas

1. Used to express sorrow, regret, compassion or grief.
   • 1594, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Act 5, Scene 1

     Alas, Poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rims at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now? your gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen? Now get you to my lady's chamber, and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this favour she must come; make her laugh at that.

Synonyms

• alack

Derived terms

• alack and alas

Translations

exclamation of sorrow, etc.

• Albanian: bubu (sq), bobo (sq)
• Arabic: واحسرتاه (ar) (waaHasrataah), واهًا (ar) (waahan)
• Breton: siwazh (br)
• Catalan: ai las
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 唉 (cmn) (āi), 哎呀 (cmn) (āiyā), 嗚呼 (cmn), 呜呼 (cmn) (wūhū)

• Czech: běda (cs)
• Danish: ak (da)
• Dutch: helaas (nl), o wee (nl), jammer (nl) genoeg (nl)
• Esperanto: ve (eo)
• Estonian: paraku, kahjuks
• Finnish: voi kauhistus, kauheaa, kuinka ikävää
• French: hélas (fr)
• German: leider (de), ach (de), bedauerlicherweise (de), weh (de)
• Greek: αλίμονο (el) (alímono)
• Hiligaynon: abá, abáo
• Hungarian: ajjaj

• Ido: ve
• Italian: ahimè (it), purtroppo (it)
• Japanese: ああ (ja) (ā), あたら (ja) (atara)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: ئاخ (ku) (ax), هاوار (ku) (hawar), هه‌ی هاوار (ku) (hei hawar), داخاکه‌م (ku) (daxekem), ئه‌فسۆس (ku) (efsos)

• Latin: eheu (la), heu (la), vae (la)
• Norwegian: akk (no)
• Old English: ēalā (ang)
• Persian: افسوس (fa) (afsus)
• Portuguese: ai de mim (pt)
• Romanian: vai (ro)
• Russian: увы (ru) (uvý), ах (ru) (ax)
• Scottish Gaelic: och, mo thruaighe, mo chreach, mo sgal
• Spanish: ay, ay de mí
• Swedish: ack (sv)
• Turkish: ah (tr), aman (tr), eyvah (tr)

Anagrams

• aals, Lasa

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Aromanian

Alternative forms

• alasu, las, lasu

Etymology

From Latin laxō. Compare Daco-Romanian lăsa, las.

Verb

alas (past participle alãsatã)

1. I let, allow.
2. I leave (something), drop.

Related terms

• alãsare/alãsari
• alãsat

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Balinese

Noun

alas

1. forest

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Finnish

Etymology

From the same Uralic root *ala as Estonian all and Hungarian alatt (the lative singular of ala-).

Adverb

alas (comparative alemmaksi, superlative alimmaksi)

1. down
2. downward

Antonyms

• (down; downward): ylös

Inflection

Declension of alas noun case singular plural adverbial form singular plural nominative ala- – superessive alhaalla – genitive – – delative alhaalta – partitive – – sublative alhaalle – accusative – – lative alas – inessive – – temporal – – elative – – causative – – illative – – multiplicative – – adessive alla – distributive – – ablative alta – temp. dist. – – allative alle – prolative ali alitse – essive – – situative allekkain alakkain – translative – – oppositive alatusten – instructive – – abessive – – comitative – –

Interjection

alas

1. (followed by a nominative) down with (e.g. in demonstrations)

   Alas rikolliset!

   Down with the criminals!

Anagrams

• sala

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Indonesian

Noun

alas

1. base, foundation
2. layer, lining, covering

Synonyms

• dasar
• basis
• lapik

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Latin

Noun

ālās f

1. accusative plural of āla

Verb

alās

1. second-person singular present active subjunctive of alō
   1. "may you nourish"
   2. "may you feed, may you maintain, may you develop"
   3. "may you keep, may you supply with necessities, may you support financially"

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Latvian

Noun

alas f

1. genitive singular form of ala
2. nominative plural form of ala
3. vocative plural form of ala
4. accusative plural form of ala

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Malay

Noun

alas

1. base, framework, layer, pad, foundation

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Portuguese

Noun

alas f pl

1. Plural form of ala

Verb

alas

1. Second-person singular (tu) present indicative of alar

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Serbo-Croatian

Alternative forms

• alaša
• hàlas

Etymology

From Hungarian halász (“fisherman”).

Noun

àlās m (Cyrillic spelling а̀ла̄с)

1. (regional) a river fisherman

Synonyms

• rìbīč

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Spanish

Noun

alas f pl

1. Plural form of ala