oy vey

interjection

ˈȯi-ˈvā 

variants or less commonly oy vay or oy veh

—used to express dismay, frustration, or grief

Mail! Oy veh, I get such mail. Such mail as I never dreamed of before the advent of the Internet.

—Anne Bendheim

Examples of oy vey in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Always quick to cry ‘oy vey’ over microaggressions while macro-aggressing against anyone noticing patterns. —Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 8 July 2025

Instead of crying ‘oy vey,’ Herbert, 24, went to work. —Jay Paris, Forbes, 19 Dec. 2022

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Yiddish, from oy, interjection expressing surprise or dismay + vey, interjection expressing distress or grief, going back to Middle High German wē, going back to Old High German wah, wē, going back to Germanic *wai (whence Old English wā) — more at woe entry 1

First Known Use

1914, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for oy vey

• airway
• allay
• archway
• array
• ashtray
• astray
• aue
• away
• ballet
• belay
• beltway
• beret