woebegone
English · Thesaurus
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woebegone
- /ˈwəʊbɪɡɒn/ UK
- /ˈwoʊbiˌɡɔn/ US
- /-bə-/ US
- /-ɡɑn/ cot caught merger
Where it comes from
From Middle English wo-bigon, wo-begon (“(adjective) deeply affected by woe, distressed, sorrowful, wretched; affected by physical impairment or pain; tired, weary; abominable, cursed; (noun) unfortunate person, wretch”), from wo (“distress, misery, woe; physical pain or suffering; etc.”) + bigon (the past participle form of bigon (“of a state: to come upon or overtake (someone), beset, overwhelm, bego; of a person: to be overwhelmed by grief, etc.”)):
* wo is derived from Old English wā (“woe”), from Proto-West Germanic *wai (“woe!”, interjection), from Proto-Germanic *wai (“woe!”, interjection), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wáy (“ah!, oh!; alas!, woe!”, interjection).
* bigon is derived from Old English begān (“to go over, traverse; to beset, surround; to occupy; to overrun; etc.”), from Proto-West Germanic *bigān, from *bi- (from Proto-Germanic *bi- (prefix meaning ‘at; by’), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁épi (“at; near; on”)) + *gān (“to go”) (from Proto-Germanic *gāną (“to go; to walk”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₁- (“to go; to reach; to abandon, leave”)).
By surface analysis, woe + begone (the past participle form of bego (“(obsolete) to affect”)).
Noun sense 1 (“person who is deeply affected or overwhelmed by suffering or trouble, and so filled with woe”) became obsolete after the 14th or 15th century, and was only revived in the 19th century.
adjective more woebegone · most woebegone
-
Of a person: deeply affected or overwhelmed by suffering or trouble, and so filled with woe (“great distress or sadness”); (loosely) forlorn, sad, unhappy.
[M]ake an ende of mone, / For you are ſicke, and ſhe is woe begone.
Similar: lamentable, atrabiliary, atrabilious, blitheless, dispirited, blue, bummed out, chapfallen, cheerless, chopfallen, crestfallen, cut up
-
Of a person or thing: having a distressed, miserable, or sad appearance.
Pen and Miss Bolton were hard by listening to the same concert, and the latter remarked, and Pen laughed at Mr. Foker's wo-begone face. Fanny asked what it was that made that odd-looking little man so dismal? "I think he is crossed in love!" Pen said.
Similar: derelict, dilapidated, godforsaken, ramshackle, rundown, tumbledown
- Of a thing: in a deplorable state. The 44-year-old [Mikhail] Prokhorov, the second-richest man in Russia, is expected to assume control of the woebegone Nets within the next few weeks.
noun woebegones
-
A person who is deeply affected or overwhelmed by suffering or trouble, and so filled with woe.
Near-synonym: (chiefly US, informal) sad sack
Similar: sad sack
Translations
Every language
adj of a person: deeply affected or overwhelmed by suffering or trouble, and so filled with woe
| Français | abattu |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | jammernd, wehklagend |
| Ελληνικά | θλιμμένος thlimménos |
| Русский | го́рестный górestnyj, удручённый udručónnyj |
adj of a person or thing: having a distressed, miserable, or sad appearance
| Ελληνικά | θλιμμένος thlimménos |
|---|
adj of a thing: in a deplorable state
| Français | désolé |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | erbärmlich, heruntergekommen, jammervoll, kläglich |
| Ελληνικά | θλιμμένος thlimménos |
| Русский | плаче́вный plačévnyj, приско́рбный priskórbnyj |
Talk about this word "woebegone." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/woebegone. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. woebegone. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/woebegone "woebegone." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/woebegone.Cite this
@misc{woebegone_2026,
title = {woebegone},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/woebegone},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
