"Weh" meaning in German

See Weh in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /veː/ Audio: De-Weh.ogg [Germany, Berlin]
Rhymes: -eː Etymology: From Middle High German wēwe, from Old High German wēwo, from Proto-Germanic *waiwô. Etymology templates: {{ety|de|:inh|gmh:wēwe<ety:inh<goh:wēwo>>}} [Appendix:Glossary#derived_terms|Derived]] from", "terms" : [ { "children" : [ ], "lang_name" : "Proto-Indo-European", "term" : "*wai", "status" : "ok", "lang" : "ine-pro" } ], "keyword" : "derived" } ], "lang_name" : "Proto-Germanic", "term" : "*waiwô", "status" : "ok", "lang" : "gem-pro" } ], "keyword_label" : "Inherited from", "keyword" : "inherited" } ], "lang_name" : "Old High German", "term" : "wēwo", "status" : "ok", "lang" : "goh" } ], "keyword_label" : "Inherited from", "keyword" : "inherited" } ], "lang_name" : "Middle High German", "term" : "wēwe", "status" : "inline", "lang" : "gmh" } ], "keyword_label" : "Inherited from", "keyword" : "inherited" } ], "lang_name" : "German", "term" : "Weh", "status" : "ok", "lang" : "de" }" data-lang="de" data-title="Weh">, {{inh|de|gmh|wēwe}} Middle High German wēwe, {{inh|de|goh|wēwo}} Old High German wēwo, {{inh|de|gem-pro|*waiwô}} Proto-Germanic *waiwô Head templates: {{de-noun|n,(e)s}} Weh n (strong, genitive Wehes or Wehs, plural Wehe) Inflection templates: {{de-ndecl|n,(e)s}} Forms: Wehes [genitive], Wehs [genitive], Wehe [plural], strong [table-tags], Weh [nominative, singular], Wehe [definite, nominative, plural], Wehes [genitive, singular], Wehs [genitive, singular], Wehe [definite, genitive, plural], Weh [dative, singular], Wehe [dative, singular], Wehen [dative, definite, plural], Weh [accusative, singular], Wehe [accusative, definite, plural]
  1. psychological suffering; misery, woe Tags: neuter, strong
    Sense id: en-Weh-de-noun-xIs1TBBZ Categories (other): German entries with etymon, Pages using etymon with no ID, Pages with 5 entries, Pages with entries, Pages with etymon Disambiguation of German entries with etymon: 51 49 Disambiguation of Pages using etymon with no ID: 50 50 Disambiguation of Pages with 5 entries: 50 50 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 50 50 Disambiguation of Pages with etymon: 49 51
  2. (less commonly) physical suffering, pain Tags: neuter, strong, uncommon
    Sense id: en-Weh-de-noun-k42UMcgE Categories (other): German entries with etymon, German entries with incorrect language header, Pages using etymon with no ID, Pages with 5 entries, Pages with entries, Pages with etymon Disambiguation of German entries with etymon: 51 49 Disambiguation of German entries with incorrect language header: 45 55 Disambiguation of Pages using etymon with no ID: 50 50 Disambiguation of Pages with 5 entries: 50 50 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 50 50 Disambiguation of Pages with etymon: 49 51
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Related terms: Wehgefühl, Wehgeschrei, Wehmut
Hyponyms: Abschiedsweh, Bauchweh, Fernweh, Fußweh, Gliederweh, Halsweh, Hauptweh, Heimweh, Herzweh, Hüftweh, Kopfweh, Kreuzweh, Leibweh, Liebesweh, Luckenweh, Lückenweh, Magenweh, Schädelweh, Trennungsweh, Wehweh, Zahnweh

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "de",
        "2": ":inh",
        "3": "gmh:wēwe<ety:inh<goh:wēwo>>"
      },
      "expansion": "[Appendix:Glossary#derived_terms|Derived]] from\", \"terms\" : [ { \"children\" : [ ], \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Indo-European\", \"term\" : \"*wai\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"ine-pro\" } ], \"keyword\" : \"derived\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Germanic\", \"term\" : \"*waiwô\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"gem-pro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Old High German\", \"term\" : \"wēwo\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"goh\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Middle High German\", \"term\" : \"wēwe\", \"status\" : \"inline\", \"lang\" : \"gmh\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"German\", \"term\" : \"Weh\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"de\" }\" data-lang=\"de\" data-title=\"Weh\">",
      "name": "ety"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "de",
        "2": "gmh",
        "3": "wēwe"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle High German wēwe",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "de",
        "2": "goh",
        "3": "wēwo"
      },
      "expansion": "Old High German wēwo",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "de",
        "2": "gem-pro",
        "3": "*waiwô"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Germanic *waiwô",
      "name": "inh"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle High German wēwe, from Old High German wēwo, from Proto-Germanic *waiwô.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "Wehes",
      "tags": [
        "genitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "Wehs",
      "tags": [
        "genitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "Wehe",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "strong",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "table-tags"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "de-ndecl",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "inflection-template"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "Weh",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "nominative",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "Wehe",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "definite",
        "nominative",
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "Wehes",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "genitive",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "Wehs",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "genitive",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "Wehe",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "definite",
        "genitive",
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "Weh",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "dative",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "Wehe",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "dative",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "Wehen",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "dative",
        "definite",
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "Weh",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "accusative",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "Wehe",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "accusative",
        "definite",
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "n,(e)s"
      },
      "expansion": "Weh n (strong, genitive Wehes or Wehs, plural Wehe)",
      "name": "de-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyponyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "48 52",
      "word": "Abschiedsweh"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "48 52",
      "word": "Bauchweh"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "48 52",
      "word": "Fernweh"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "48 52",
      "word": "Fußweh"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "48 52",
      "word": "Gliederweh"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "48 52",
      "word": "Halsweh"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "48 52",
      "word": "Hauptweh"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "48 52",
      "word": "Heimweh"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "48 52",
      "word": "Herzweh"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "48 52",
      "word": "Hüftweh"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "48 52",
      "word": "Kopfweh"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "48 52",
      "word": "Kreuzweh"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "48 52",
      "word": "Leibweh"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "48 52",
      "word": "Liebesweh"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "48 52",
      "word": "Luckenweh"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "48 52",
      "word": "Lückenweh"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "48 52",
      "word": "Magenweh"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "48 52",
      "word": "Schädelweh"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "48 52",
      "word": "Trennungsweh"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "48 52",
      "word": "Wehweh"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "48 52",
      "word": "Zahnweh"
    }
  ],
  "inflection_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "n,(e)s"
      },
      "name": "de-ndecl"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "German",
  "lang_code": "de",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "48 52",
      "word": "Wehgefühl"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "48 52",
      "word": "Wehgeschrei"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "48 52",
      "word": "Wehmut"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "51 49",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "German entries with etymon",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "50 50",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages using etymon with no ID",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "50 50",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 5 entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "50 50",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "49 51",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with etymon",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "psychological suffering; misery, woe"
      ],
      "id": "en-Weh-de-noun-xIs1TBBZ",
      "links": [
        [
          "misery",
          "misery"
        ],
        [
          "woe",
          "woe"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "neuter",
        "strong"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "51 49",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "German entries with etymon",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "45 55",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "German entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "50 50",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages using etymon with no ID",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "50 50",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 5 entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "50 50",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "49 51",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with etymon",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "physical suffering, pain"
      ],
      "id": "en-Weh-de-noun-k42UMcgE",
      "links": [
        [
          "pain",
          "pain"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(less commonly) physical suffering, pain"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "neuter",
        "strong",
        "uncommon"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/veː/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-eː"
    },
    {
      "audio": "De-Weh.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/f/fe/De-Weh.ogg/De-Weh.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/De-Weh.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Germany",
        "Berlin"
      ]
    },
    {
      "homophone": "W"
    }
  ],
  "word": "Weh"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "German entries with etymon",
    "German entries with incorrect language header",
    "German lemmas",
    "German neuter nouns",
    "German nouns",
    "German terms derived from Middle High German",
    "German terms derived from Old High German",
    "German terms derived from Proto-Germanic",
    "German terms derived from Proto-Indo-European",
    "German terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European word *wai",
    "German terms inherited from Middle High German",
    "German terms inherited from Old High German",
    "German terms inherited from Proto-Germanic",
    "German terms with homophones",
    "Pages using etymon with no ID",
    "Pages with 5 entries",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Pages with etymon",
    "Pages with inline etymon for redlinks",
    "Rhymes:German/eː",
    "Rhymes:German/eː/1 syllable"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "de",
        "2": ":inh",
        "3": "gmh:wēwe<ety:inh<goh:wēwo>>"
      },
      "expansion": "[Appendix:Glossary#derived_terms|Derived]] from\", \"terms\" : [ { \"children\" : [ ], \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Indo-European\", \"term\" : \"*wai\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"ine-pro\" } ], \"keyword\" : \"derived\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Germanic\", \"term\" : \"*waiwô\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"gem-pro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Old High German\", \"term\" : \"wēwo\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"goh\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Middle High German\", \"term\" : \"wēwe\", \"status\" : \"inline\", \"lang\" : \"gmh\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"German\", \"term\" : \"Weh\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"de\" }\" data-lang=\"de\" data-title=\"Weh\">",
      "name": "ety"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "de",
        "2": "gmh",
        "3": "wēwe"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle High German wēwe",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "de",
        "2": "goh",
        "3": "wēwo"
      },
      "expansion": "Old High German wēwo",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "de",
        "2": "gem-pro",
        "3": "*waiwô"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Germanic *waiwô",
      "name": "inh"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle High German wēwe, from Old High German wēwo, from Proto-Germanic *waiwô.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "Wehes",
      "tags": [
        "genitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "Wehs",
      "tags": [
        "genitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "Wehe",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "strong",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "table-tags"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "de-ndecl",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "inflection-template"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "Weh",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "nominative",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "Wehe",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "definite",
        "nominative",
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "Wehes",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "genitive",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "Wehs",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "genitive",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "Wehe",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "definite",
        "genitive",
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "Weh",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "dative",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "Wehe",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "dative",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "Wehen",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "dative",
        "definite",
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "Weh",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "accusative",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "Wehe",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "accusative",
        "definite",
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "n,(e)s"
      },
      "expansion": "Weh n (strong, genitive Wehes or Wehs, plural Wehe)",
      "name": "de-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyponyms": [
    {
      "word": "Abschiedsweh"
    },
    {
      "word": "Bauchweh"
    },
    {
      "word": "Fernweh"
    },
    {
      "word": "Fußweh"
    },
    {
      "word": "Gliederweh"
    },
    {
      "word": "Halsweh"
    },
    {
      "word": "Hauptweh"
    },
    {
      "word": "Heimweh"
    },
    {
      "word": "Herzweh"
    },
    {
      "word": "Hüftweh"
    },
    {
      "word": "Kopfweh"
    },
    {
      "word": "Kreuzweh"
    },
    {
      "word": "Leibweh"
    },
    {
      "word": "Liebesweh"
    },
    {
      "word": "Luckenweh"
    },
    {
      "word": "Lückenweh"
    },
    {
      "word": "Magenweh"
    },
    {
      "word": "Schädelweh"
    },
    {
      "word": "Trennungsweh"
    },
    {
      "word": "Wehweh"
    },
    {
      "word": "Zahnweh"
    }
  ],
  "inflection_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "n,(e)s"
      },
      "name": "de-ndecl"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "German",
  "lang_code": "de",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "Wehgefühl"
    },
    {
      "word": "Wehgeschrei"
    },
    {
      "word": "Wehmut"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "psychological suffering; misery, woe"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "misery",
          "misery"
        ],
        [
          "woe",
          "woe"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "neuter",
        "strong"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "physical suffering, pain"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "pain",
          "pain"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(less commonly) physical suffering, pain"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "neuter",
        "strong",
        "uncommon"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/veː/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-eː"
    },
    {
      "audio": "De-Weh.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/f/fe/De-Weh.ogg/De-Weh.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/De-Weh.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Germany",
        "Berlin"
      ]
    },
    {
      "homophone": "W"
    }
  ],
  "word": "Weh"
}

Download raw JSONL data for Weh meaning in German (4.7kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable German dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-08-28 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-08-05 using wiktextract (872fc7b and 4deed51). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.