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Oi / ɔɪ / is an interjection used in various varieties of the English language, particularly Australian English, British English, Indian English, Irish English, New Zealand English, and South African English, as well as non-English languages such as Chinese, Tagalog, Tamil, Hindi/Urdu, Italian, Japanese, and Portuguese to get the attention of another person or to express surprise or disapproval.
The earliest known use of the word oi is in the 1930s. OED's earliest evidence for oi is from 1936, in Evening News (London). oi is a variant or alteration of another lexical item.
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Aug 20, 2019 · Origin of oi: 1962, vulgar or working class pronunciation of hoy a call or shout to attract attention (compare ahoy). ... See more.
The commonly accepted theory is that these derive from some case form (ablative?) of the reflexive pronoun IE *swe-, as in Latin se, suus.
Definition of oi exclamation in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
The American dictionaries that treat the diphthong in isolation tend to take an easy way out: they lemmatize oy, list Yiddish as the language of origin (most of them noting oy veh as the full form), and define the word as an exclamation expressing some combination of the following (curiously, mainly negative) emotions:
Sep 19, 2023 · The word “oi” is a common greeting used in everyday speech and texting. It is often used as a way to get someone’s attention or start a conversation. The origins of the word are not entirely clear, but it is thought to have its roots in the punk subculture, where it was used as a greeting almost exclusively.
