oy vey

See also: oy-vey

English

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔɪ̯ veɪ̯/
• Rhymes: -eɪ

Interjection

oy vey

1. (slang, ascribed to Jewish people, potentially offensive) oh dear
   • 2025 December 18 (last accessed), “What Does “Oy Vey” Mean?”, in Chabad.org‎^[1], archived from the original on 13 May 2025:

     Alternatively, some view "oy vey" as being entirely Yiddish (Judeo-German) in origin.

Usage notes

• Sometimes used by anti-Semites to ridicule stereotypical (Ashkenazi) Jews; may as such be perceived as offensive when used by non-Jews.

Related terms

• oy

Translations

oh dear — see oh dear

See also

• oy vavoy (Hebrew equivalent)

Verb

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

1. (intransitive) To utter the phrase oy vey.
   • 2019 June 18, Debra Jacobs, “I Didn’t Believe in God. Then I Had Kids.”, in Kveller‎^[2], archived from the original on 19 March 2025:

     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.

Alternative forms

• oy-vey