aiyo

/aɪˈjoʊ/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Singapore/aɪˈjoʊ/

aiyo interjection: expressing distress, regret, or fear.

Interjection

(China, India, Malaysia, Singapore, South, Sri-Lanka) Expressing distress, regret, or fear.
- 'Are you crying for your father?' 'Aiyo, aiyo!' wailed the girl. 'I shall never see him again!'1886, Chamber's Journal. 20 Mar. 184/1
- Aiyo! aiyo! My little Podi Sinho!1913, L. Woolf, Village in Jungle ii. 28

aiyo meaning in Malayalam, Kannada and Sinhala

aiyo in Malayalam

aiyo, alas; an expression of sorrow, distress, regret or grief: അയ്യോ ayyō

aiyo in Kannada

aiyo, alas; an expression of sorrow, distress, regret or grief: ಅಯ್ಯೋ ayyō

aiyo in Sinhala

aiyo; expressing distress, regret, or fear: අයියෝ ayiyō

Forms of aiyo

alternative form	ayyo
alternative form	aiyoh

Origin of aiyo

Mainly borrowed from Tamil ஐயோ (aiyō) and Sinhalese අයියෝ (ayiyō). Common in Dravidian languages; compare Telugu అయ్యో (ayyō), Kannada ಅಯ್ಯೋ (ayyō), Malayalam അയ്യോ (ayyō), Tulu ಅಯ್ಯೋ (ayyō), Kurux अयो (ayo). Alternatively from Chinese 哎喲 /哎哟 (āiyō) in Malaysia and Singapore.

Questions about aiyo

What does aiyo mean?: Aiyo means expressing distress, regret, or fear.
What is aiyo in Malayalam?: Aiyo in Malayalam is അയ്യോ (ayyō). See Aiyo meaning in Malayalam.
What part of speech is aiyo?: Aiyo is an interjection.
How do you pronounce aiyo?: Aiyo is pronounced /aɪˈjoʊ/.

Words near aiyo in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: aiyo (page history and authors); അയ്യോ (Malayalam) (page history and authors); ಅಯ್ಯೋ (Kannada) (page history and authors); අයියෝ (Sinhala) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “aiyo.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/aiyo. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.