Etymology Explorer › Old English

Where does “wǣ” come from?

wǣ (Old English) comes from Proto-Germanic wai, from Proto-Indo-European wai — oh!; woe!.

Ancestry of “wǣ”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Proto-Germanicwaiwoe! alas!
2Proto-Indo-Europeanwaioh!; woe!

Words derived from “wǣ”

  • woe
  • wo
  • woefully
  • woeful
  • woful
  • wofully
  • woefulness
  • woesome
  • wofulness
  • woegeous
  • woegeously
  • woeless
  • wei
  • woo
  • wo
  • wa
Every word from Proto-Indo-European wai →