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woe

Archaic Terms
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Deep sorrow, grief, or misery; profound distress or affliction; also used as an exclamation of lamentation or as a curse wishing misfortune upon someone.

Detailed Definition
“Woe” frames profound lament—“woe is me.” In poetry, it structures tragic address. The term’s simplicity suits universal pain. Poets use it to explore how suffering speaks, where woe marks isolation or divine punishment, reinforcing themes of fate, empathy, and the cry’s power in elegiac and dramatic traditions.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Woe unto him who breaks his vow,” in a prophetic curse; In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet: “Woe to the hand that shed this blood!”; “She cried ‘Woe!’ and tore her hair”; “Woe is the shadow of pride”; “The land lay in woe after war”; Woe, but hope follows.
Additional Notes
“Woe” functions as exclamation, curse, and state of being; in lament or prophecy, “woe unto thee” invokes divine judgment, while “deep woe” embodies sorrow so profound it becomes identity in tragic modes.
Also Known As
sorrow grief misery alack alas bale Ochone hech Hélas
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