おい

Japanese

Etymology 1

Compare unrelated English oi, Portuguese oi, Malay oi, etc.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) おい [óꜜì] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [o̞i]

Interjection

おい • (oi) 

1. (informal) said to get someone's attention; hey!; oi!

   おい、起(お)きなさい！ ― Oi, okinasai! ― Hey, wake up!

   • 1914, 夏目漱石 [Natsume Sōseki], chapter 38, in こゝろ [Kokoro], 下 先生と遺書 [Sensei's Testament]:

     私(わたくし)は半(なか)ば無意識(むいしき)においと声(こえ)を掛(か)けました。すると向(むこ)うでもおいと返事(へんじ)をしました。

     Watakushi wa nakaba muishiki ni oi to koe o kakemashita. Suru to mukō demo oi to henji o shimashita.

     I called out half-unconsciously, "Oi". Then from the other side came an "oi" in reply.

Usage notes

• Commonly elongated おーい (ōi), and so on.

Etymology 2

For pronunciation and definitions of おい – see the following entries.

【老い】 [noun] old age

【笈】J [noun] a box with legs that is carried on the back, used by itinerant monks and yamabushi to carry books, articles of worship, clothing, etc. Alternative spelling 負

【甥】J [noun] nephew

(This term, おい (oi), is the hiragana spelling of the above terms.) For a list of all kanji read as おい, see Category:Japanese kanji read as おい.

(The following entries do not have a page created for them yet: 負ひ, 追い.)