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Clearly a word of power with a colourful history, “Aiyo” is an expressive term that seems to have no content and yet is capable of expressing a range of feelings from dismay to derision.
The dictionary describes it as: “In southern India and Sri Lanka, expressing distress, regret, or grief; ‘Oh no!’ or ‘Oh dear!’ ”
Every Malaysian probably uses the phrase ‘Aiyo’ more often than one would think.
But did you know, ‘Aiyo’ is a legitimate English phrase? It was officially included in the Oxford English dictionary (OED) in 2016, as part of the latest addition of words to its database.
The official website of Oxford English dictionary says ‘Aiyo’ was first cited in 1886 in the Chamber’s Journal and later references were attributed to the famed writer R.K. Narayan (“Aiyo! Never thought our beloved headmaster would come to this end.” [Tiger for Malgudi, 1984]).
The Oxford English Dictionary has been the foremost authority on the English language, all over the world.
The Oxford English Dictionary is more than 150 years old and contains at least 6,00,000 entries. It is updated four times in March, June, September, and December every year.
Info via India Today
By Thineshkan
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