guaio

Italian

Etymology

Perhaps from Proto-Germanic *wai (“expression of grief”).^[1] Alternatively from Ancient Greek οὐαί (ouaí), from the verse in Revelation 8:13. Compare English woe, German Weh, Latin vae.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡwa.jo/
• Rhymes: -ajo
• Hyphenation: guà‧io

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

guaio m (plural guai)

1. (archaic or literary, usually in the plural) lament, lamentation, cry
   • 1300s–1310s, Dante Alighieri, “Canto III”, in Inferno [Hell]‎, lines 22–24; republished as Giorgio Petrocchi, editor, La Commedia secondo l'antica vulgata [The Commedia according to the ancient vulgate]‎, 2^nd revised edition, Florence: publ. Le Lettere, 1994:

     Quivi sospiri, pianti e alti guai
     risonavan per l'aere sanza stelle,
     per ch'io al cominciar ne lagrimai.

     Here sighs, cries, and loud laments resounded through the starless air, so that at their beginning I teared up

   • 1353, Giovanni Boccaccio, “Giornata quinta, Novella Ⅷ. [Fifth day, Novel 8]”, in Decamerone [Decameron]‎, Tommaso Hedlin, published 1527, page 153:

     subitamente gli parve udire un grandissimo pianto, et guai altissimi messi da una donna

     He immediately thought he heard intense crying, and very loud laments emitted by a woman

   • 1835, Giacomo Leopardi with Alessandro Donati, “Ⅱ. Sopra il monumento di Dante”, in Canti‎, Bari: Einaudi, published 1917, page 10, lines 84–85:

     […] in sempiterni guai
     pianga tua stirpe a tutto il mondo oscura

     May your lineage, unknown to the whole world, cry in eternal laments

2. (usually in the plural) hardship, misfortune
3. (by extension) trouble, difficulty, mess, pickle, fix, woe, jam

   Io non ho guai. ― I do not have problems.

   Siamo nei guai. ― We're in trouble.

Synonyms

• difficoltà
• disgrazia
• fastidio
• impiccio
• noia
• pasticcio
• casino (informal; quite vulgar)
• scocciatura (informal)
• seccatura (informal)

Derived terms

• guai
• guaire
• inguaiare
• inguaiarsi

References

1. guaio in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana