different between woo vs woe

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: wo?o, IPA^(key): /wu?/
• Rhymes: -u?

Etymology 1

From Middle English wowen, wo?en, from Old English w?gian (“to woo, court, marry”), of uncertain origin. Cognate with Scots wow (“to woo”). Perhaps related to Old English w?g, w?h (“bending, crookedness”), in the specific sense of "bend or incline (some)one toward oneself". If so, then derived from Proto-Germanic *wanh? (“a bend, angle”), from Proto-Indo-European *wonk- (“crooked, bent”), from Proto-Indo-European *w?- (“to bend, twist, turn”); related to Old Norse vá (“corner, angle”).

Alternative forms

• wo, wow, wowe (obsolete)

Verb

woo (third-person singular simple present woos, present participle wooing, simple past and past participle wooed)

1. (transitive) To endeavor to gain someone's support.
2. (transitive) (often of a man) To try to persuade (someone) to be in an amorous relationship with
   • 1718, Matthew Prior, epistle to Charles Montagu.

     Each, like the Grecian artist, wooes / The image he himself has wrought.
3. (transitive) To court solicitously; to invite with importunity.
   • a. 1850, William Cullen Bryant, Summer Wind

     I woo the wind / That still delays his coming.

Synonyms

• (to solicit in love): court; see also Thesaurus:woo

Derived terms

• wooer

Translations

Etymology 2

Interjection

woo

1. (slang) Expressing joy or mirth; woohoo, yahoo.

   "I got you a new cell phone." "Woo, that's great!"

Etymology 3

Adjective

woo (comparative more woo, superlative most woo)

1. Alternative form of woo woo

Noun

woo

1. Alternative form of woo woo

Anagrams

• OWO

Afar

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wo?/

Determiner

wóo

1. that, those (masculine)

See also

References

Mohamed Hassan Kamil (2015) L’afar: description grammaticale d’une langue couchitique (Djibouti, Erythrée et Ethiopie)?^[2], Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (doctoral thesis)

Middle English

Alternative forms

• wo, wa

Etymology

From Old English w?, w?, from Proto-Germanic *wai, from Proto-Indo-European *wai.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /w??/
• Rhymes: -??

Noun

woo (plural woos)

1. woe, torment, anguish

Synonyms

• angwissh
• we

Descendants

• English: woe
• Scots: wa, wae

English

Etymology

From Middle English wo, wei, wa, from Old English w?, w?, from Proto-Germanic *wai (interjection), whence also Dutch wee, German Weh, weh, Danish ve, Yiddish ????? (vey). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wáy (interjection). Compare Latin vae, Albanian vaj, French ouais, Ancient Greek ???? (ouaí), Persian ???? (vây) (Turkish vay, a Persian borrowing), and Armenian ??? (vay).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /w??/
• (General American) enPR: w?, IPA^(key): /wo?/
• Rhymes: -??
• Homophone: whoa (in accents with the wine-whine merger)

Noun

woe (countable and uncountable, plural woes)

1. Great sadness or distress; a misfortune causing such sadness.

   Synonyms: grief, sorrow, misery

   • 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost

     Thus saying, from her side the fatal key, / Sad instrument of all our woe, she took.

   • 1717, Alexander Pope, Eloisa to Abelard

     Soon as thy letters trembling I unclose / That well-known name awakens all my woes.

   • October 14 2017, Sandeep Moudgal, The Times of India, Rains devastate families, political parties make beeline to apply balm on open wounds

     The Friday night rains which wrecked families in Kurabarahalli saw all the three major political parties making a beeline to express their condolences, listen to their woes and provide compensation in the hope of garnering their goodwill ahead of the 2018 assembly elections.

2. Calamity, trouble.
3. A curse; a malediction.

   • Can there be a woe or curse in all the stores of vengeance equal to the malignity of such a practice?

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

woe (comparative more woe, superlative most woe)

1. (obsolete) Woeful; sorrowful
   • 1303, Robert of Brunne, Handlyng synne

     hys clerk was wo to do þat dede

   • Wo was the knight and sorroufully he syketh.

Interjection

woe

1. (archaic) An exclamation of grief.

Translations

Anagrams

• owe

Limburgish

Adverb

woe

1. where

Alternative forms

• boe (Maastrichtian)

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *wuo, from Proto-Germanic *hw?.

Adverb

woe

1. (eastern) Alternative form of hoe

Middle English

Pronoun

woe

1. Alternative form of we (“we”)