Borrowed from Yiddish אוי וויי (oy vey, literally “oh woe”), from Middle High German ōwē, from ō + wē, the latter being from Old High German wē, from Proto-Germanic *wai, from Proto-Indo-European *wai. Cognate with German o weh, Dutch oh wee, Latin vae, and Esperanto ho ve.
Meanings
(qualifier:ascribed to Jewish people; potentially offensive; ascribed to Jewish people; potentially offensive, slang) oh dear
Alternatively, some view "oy vey" as being entirely Yiddish (Judeo-German) in origin. 2025 December 18 (last accessed), “What Does “Oy Vey” Mean?”, in Chabad.org, archived from the original on 13 May 2025:
Borrowed from Yiddish אוי וויי (oy vey, literally “oh woe”), from Middle High German ōwē, from ō + wē, the latter being from Old High German wē, from Proto-Germanic *wai, from Proto-Indo-European *wai. Cognate with German o weh, Dutch oh wee, Latin vae, and Esperanto ho ve.
Meanings
(intransitive) To utter the phrase oy vey.
I suppose that’s not surprising, given the spiritual milieu in which I grew up. My mother gasped in sorrow at any news of a bombing in Israel and appropriately “oy veyed” when a Jew was accused of a crime, but she couldn’t tell you what the Shabbat blessing meant. 2019 June 18, Debra Jacobs, “I Didn’t Believe in God. Then I Had Kids.”, in Kveller, archived from the original on 19 Mar 2025: