What does oy vey mean?

Oy vey (Yiddish: אױ װײ), or just oy,[1] is an exclamation of dismay or exasperation [1] meaning "oh woe." Its sound is very similar to Ach weh, and Au weh (with which it is a cognate), a common expression used in Bavaria and Austria in similar situations, combining the German exclamation Au! meaning "Ouch/Oh" and the German word Weh meaning pain, or Oy Wah, an expression used with a similar meaning in the Montbéliard region in France. It is however also theorized that the first part of it (oy) is originally from Biblical Hebrew, with cognates in other Semitic languages.[citation needed] Vey and the similar contemporary German Weh are derived from Middle High German, and are cognate with the English "woe."