وَيْحَكَwoe to you

Example sentences

• فَقُلْتُ وَيْحَكَ مَا هَذَا الْجَفَاءُ؟

  Then I said, "Woe to you; what is this rudeness?"

  وَيْحَكَ — woe to you. This is an exclamation of woe with the attached 'you' (masculine) on its end: a fixed scolding cry, 'woe to you'. The pronoun fixes whom the rebuke falls on. It is a frozen expressive formula, so it sits outside the normal subject-verb machinery and just vents reproach at the addressee.

  From: A Night of Reckoning →

• فَقَالَ لَهُ وَيْحَكَ أَمَّا تَرَى أَسَانِيدَهَا؟

  So he said to him, "Woe to you! Do you not see its chains of transmission?"

  وَيْحَكَ — Woe to you. A rebuke exclamation ending in -ka 'you (to a man)', so it bundles the scolding word with its target. The -ka pins the rebuke directly on the addressee, making it 'woe to you' rather than a general cry.

  From: Permissible Laughter and Conduct →

• فَقَالَ وَيْحَكَ أُكْتُبْهُ فَإِنَّ الْأَشْرَافُ يَعْجِبُهُمْ الْمُلَاحَةُ

  He said, "Woe to you; write it down, for the nobles admire ornamented speech."

  وَيْحَكَ — woe to you. A rebuke exclamation ending in -ka 'you (to a man)', so it bundles the scolding word with its target. The -ka pins the rebuke on the addressee, making it 'woe to you' aimed straight at the listener.

  From: Permissible Laughter and Conduct →