aiya.

interj.  a Chinese lamentation.

<Aiya ... why me ... ungrateful child ... Aiya.  —San Diego Chinese Women’s Association.>

interj.  a Chinese shriek of pain.

<“Aiya!  My chest, my heart!”  His father clutched at his robe.  “She’s a demon.  She’s trying to kill me.  —May-Lee Chai, The Girl from Purple Mountain: Love, Honor, War, and One Family’s Journey from China to America.>

interj.  a flirtatious greeting, as in the novel Schism: Part One of Triad by Catherine Asaro.


interj.  a Malaysian expression meaning “oh my!”


interj.  a Nepali word for “ouch.”

<“Ouch!” he said, and it struck her that he didn’t say “aiya” like a Nepali would.  —Samrat Upadhyay, “This World,” Stories in the Stepmother Tongue.>

interj.  an exclamation that one is dying, as discussed in The Anthropology of Buddhism and Hinduism: Weberian Themes by David N. Gellner; a Chinese utterance of resignation.

<Ch’en Ts’ung … was so worn out that he suddenly shrieked in the middle of the night, “Aiya, I am finished!” … his face had turned very pale and his pulse had stopped beating.  —Nankai University “August 18” Red Guards describing their winter 1966-67 experiences in researching the Case of the Sixty-One Renegades, quoted by Pamela Lubell, The Chinese Communist Party During the Cultural Revolution: The Case of the Sixty-One Renegades.>

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