oy vey

[oi vey]

interjection

Yiddish.

1. (used to express distress, exasperation, upset, alarm, etc., sometimes minor).

   Just had another session with my mom, planning my wedding—oy vey, she’s taking over!

Word History and Origins

Origin of oy vey¹

First recorded in 1910–15; from Yiddish oy vey “oh woe,” from oy oy ¹ ( def. ) + vey “woe”; woe ( def. )

Example Sentences

From a makeshift Twister game set up in the hotel’s foyer, a tumbling child let out a loud “Oy vey!”

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Mari Varsányi, a member of a Jewish social justice activist group, Oy Vey Acts, said the museum may have provided too many justifications for failures to resist persecution, deportations and murder.

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“Camp Siegfried,” which opened on Tuesday at Second Stage Theater, in a thoughtful production directed by David Cromer, is an oy vey kind of play.

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“That’s what I call ‘Oy Vey Chutzpah,’ ” says Harris.

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“Oy vey,” he said when informed that Blake Masters in battleground state Arizona had just expressed his support.

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