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Whoa vs Woe - What's the difference?

whoa | woe |

As an interjection whoa

is stop (especially when commanding a horse or imitative thereof); calm down; slow down.

As a noun woe is

grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity.

As an adjective woe is

woeful; sorrowful.

whoa

English

Alternative forms

* woah * whoah

Interjection

(en interjection)
  • Stop (especially when commanding a horse or imitative thereof ); calm down; slow down.
    • Whoa , Nelly!
  • An expression of surprise.
    • Whoa , are you serious?

    Usage notes

    Another alternate spelling from woa, woah (c. 1856), is common.

    Antonyms

    * giddyup, giddy-up, giddap

    References

    * Whoa! Woah?! Whoah. How an old exclamation became the Internet’s most variously spelled word., Matthew J.X. Malady, Slate English terms with homophones

    woe

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity.
  • * Milton
    • Thus saying, from her side the fatal key, / Sad instrument of all our woe , she took.
  • * Alexander Pope
    • [They] weep each other's woe .
  • A curse; a malediction.
  • * South
    • Can there be a woe or curse in all the stores of vengeance equal to the malignity of such a practice?

    Derived terms

    * in weal or woe * woeful * woe is me

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (obsolete) woeful; sorrowful
  • * Robert of Brunne
    • His clerk was woe to do that deed.
  • * Chaucer
    • Woe was this knight and sorrowfully he sighed.
  • * Spenser
    • And looking up he waxed wondrous woe .

    Anagrams

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