ew

See also: EW, Ew, and -ew

English

Etymology 1

Onomatopoeic, ideophonic. Compare oh, ugh.

Alternative forms

• eww, euw, ieuw, ehw

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈiː.uː/, /iːˈjuː/, /iːu̯/, /(j)ɪu̯/, /ɪʊ̯/

• Audio (Midwestern US); “Ooh! Ew!”:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːuː, -uː

Interjection

ew (with as many extra ‘e’s and/or ‘w’s as needed for emphasis)

1. Expression of disgust or nausea.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:yuck

   Ew! There’s a fly in my soup.

   Ew! This peanut butter tastes disgusting!

Derived terms

• ewphoria
• ewwie
• ewwy

Related terms

• pew

Translations

expression of disgust or nausea — see also yuck

Arabic: يَع (yaʕ) Gulf Arabic: يع (yaʕ), ويع (wēʕ) Hijazi Arabic: يِع (yiʕ) Assamese: ছিঃ (sih) Breton: ec'h (br) Catalan: ecs (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 惡心 / 恶心 (zh) (ěxin), (strong, offensive) 呸 (zh) (pēi), 啐 (zh) (cuì), 哎呀 (zh) (āiyā), 哎 (zh) (āi), 唉 (zh) (ài) Czech: fuj (cs) Danish: uf, fy, øv Dutch: bah (nl) Esperanto: aĉ (eo) Finnish: hyi (fi), yök (fi), yäk (fi), yh (fi) French: beurk (fr) German: igitt (de), pfui (de) Greek: μπλιάχ (bliách) Ancient: ψό (psó) Hebrew: איכס (he) (ikhs), איכסה (he) (íkhsa), פוי (he) (fuy), פויה (he) (fuya) Hindi: छी (hi) (chī) Hungarian: fúj (hu) Icelandic: oj (is) Italian: bleah Japanese: げ (ja) (ge), ゲ (ja) (ge), げっ (ge'), ゲッ (ge') Lithuanian: fu, pfui Navajo: ih Norwegian: æsj (no), fysj Persian: ایش (fa) (išš), پیف (fa) (pif) Polish: fuj (pl), ble (pl) Portuguese: credo (pt), eca (pt), que nojo! Russian: фу (ru) (fu), тьфу (ru) (tʹfu), фе (ru) (fe), фи (ru) (fi) (aristocratic), бе (ru) (be), бр-р (ru) (br-r), буэ́ (ru) (bué) Serbo-Croatian: fuj (sh), bljak Spanish: guácala (es), puaj (es), puaf, iw, huácala (es), fuchi (es), fúchila, aj (es), fo (es), fo mierda Swedish: usch (sv), fy (sv), uäk, blä (sv) Turkish: ıy (tr) Ukrainian: фу (fu) Urdu: چھی (chī) Vietnamese: êu (vi) Welsh: ych a fi

Verb

ew (third-person singular simple present ews, present participle ewwing, simple past and past participle ewwed)

1. (ambitransitive, colloquial, rare) To express disgust (at someone or something) by saying ew.
   • 2012, Simon Dodd, Death by Muttonbird: A Lord Howe Island Murder Mystery, Sydney, N.S.W.: DBMB Publishing, →ISBN, page 201:

     “Brad went into a seething rage, as you do,” said Jack “and followed Harvey out of the restaurant, down the road and …” / “… Killed him with a muttonbird,” added Matahina / “A brick, then a muttonbird,” corrected Jack, to her horror. / “Ew!” she ewwed.

   • 2014, Babe Walker, “Get Off My Dick”, in Psychos (A White Girl Problems Book; 2), New York, N.Y.: Gallery Books, →ISBN, page 239:

     “Yes. But why did she target me? I don’t understand.” / “I think it’s kind of fun.” Gen smiled, pulling out her own pack of Marlboros and lighting one. / “Ew, you would think it’s fun. Try having a stalker.” / “Don’t ew me right now, Babe. Honestly.”

   • 2022, Meg Elison, “Drone Pirates of Silicon Valley”, in Jonathan Strahan, editor, Tomorrow's Parties: Life in the Anthropocene (Twelve Tomorrows), Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, →ISBN, page 22:

     Jayden […] showed them a large cache of vintage muscleman magazines. “Look at this. Look how hot.” […] “I’m gonna hang them up all over my room. My mom says it’s OK as long as they’re not showing meat.” / “Ew,” Ava said. / “I don’t ew the shit you like,” Jayden retorted. / “You ew girls all the time,” Ava said dismissively. “And I just meant ew to calling it ‘meat.’”

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

ew

1. Obsolete spelling of yew.

Further reading

• James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Ew”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume III (D–E), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 356, column 1.

Anagrams

• WE, w/e, we