woe
n. C / Un. a feeling of great sadness or suffering. It can also mean the problems and troubles that someone is facing.
n. intense sorrow or distress; alternatively, a state of misfortune or trouble. Often used in the plural to describe a collection of difficulties.
The old songs tell stories of love and woe.
The company's financial woes began when the global market for their main product collapsed.
The poet captures the profound woe of a nation torn apart by years of internal conflict and economic hardship.
From Middle English wo, wei, wa, from Old English wā, wǣ, from Proto-West Germanic wai (interjection), from Proto-Germanic wai (interjection), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wáy (interjection). Cognate with Dutch wee, German Weh, weh, Yiddish וויי (vey), Danish, Norn, Norwegian, Swedish ve, Faroese and Icelandic vei, Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌹 (wai), Catalan, Italian, and Portuguese guai, Romanian vai, Spanish guay, Latin vae, Ancient Greek οὐαί (ouaí), Albanian vaj, Latvian vai, Lithuanian vai̇̃, Bulgarian уви́ (uví), Russian увы́ (uvý), Serbo-Croatian avaj, Persian وای (vây), Armenian վայ (vay).
Commonly used in the plural ('woes') when referring to specific problems or economic difficulties.