LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
interjection

heu

heu
Classical[ˈhɛu̯]Ecclesiastical[ˈɛːu̯]
Mille Verba core vocabulary

Meaning

  1. oh! alas! ah!, ay! (expressing dismay, grief, pain, indignation)
    ‘heu ubi Mārs pater est?’“Alas! Where is Mars, my father?” (The ghost of Remus laments his fate; Mars was the divine father of the twin brothers Romulus and Remus.)8 CE, Ovidius, Fasti 5.465
    heu hercle mulier, multum et audāx et mala·soh blimey, woman, you have as much boldness as evil in you!

Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers

heu! interj. (constr.
I. absol. or with acc., rarely with nom. or voc.; cf. Huschke ad Tib. 2, 6, 28; Forbig. and Wagn. ad Verg. A. 2, 274. The passages cited for heu mihi, etc., Hand, Turs. III. 68 sq., are mostly corrected in recent edd.)
I. An exclamation of grief or pain, oh! ah! alas! heu heu, quam ego malis perdidi modis, quod tibi detuli et quod dedi! Plaut. Ps. 1, 3, 26: quatenus, heu nefas! Virtutem incolumem odimus, Hor. C. 3, 24, 30; cf.: palam captis gravis, heu nefas heu, id. ib. 4, 6, 17: o domus antiqua, heu quam dispari Dominare domino! Poët. ap. Cic. Off. 1, 39, 139 (Trag. Rel. Rib. p. 224): heu, mea fortuna, Enn. ap. Non. 90, 14 (Trag. v. 408 Vahl.): heu, hercle, mulier, multum et audax et mala's, Plaut. Men. 5, 1, 31: heu, nimis longo satiate ludo (Mars)! Hor. C. 1, 2, 37: heu me miseram! interii, Enn. ap. Non. 504, 6 (Trag. v. 228 Vahl.); Ter. Hec. 2, 2, 29; so, heu me miserum! Plaut. Aul. 4, 9, 10; id. Merc. 3, 4, 39; Ter. And. 4, 1, 22; Afran. ap. Cic. Tusc. 4, 20, 45; Cic. Phil. 7, 4, 14: heu me infelicem! Ter. Hec. 3, 1, 2; Turp. ap. Cic. Tusc. 4, 35, 73: heu edepol hominem nihili! Plaut. Truc. 3, 2, 27: heu edepol res turbulentas! id. Epid. 1, 1, 68: heu hercle hominem multum et odiosum mihi! id. Men. 2, 2, 41: heu hercle odiosas res! id. Mil. 4, 2, 65; id. Men. 5, 2, 119: heu me, per urbem Fabula quanta fui! Hor. Epod. 11, 7: heu, cor meum finditur! Plaut. Bacch. 2, 3, 17: heu edepol, patrem eum miserum praedicas! id. Most. 4, 2, 65: illuc heu miseri traducimur, Juv. 3, 159: heu, edepol ne ego homo vivo miser, id. Men. 5, 5, 10: heu, nunc misero mihi demum exsilium infelix, Verg. A. 10, 849.—
II. In a few doubtful passages in Plautus as an exclamation of admiration or surprise, oh! heu hercle mortalem catum! Plaut. Poen. 5, 2, 147; cf.: heu edepol mortalis malos! id. ib. 3, 2, 26.† † Heurēsis, ĕos, f., = Εὕρησις (a finding out), a Roman festival in November, Calend. Farnes. ap. Orell. Inscr. II. p. 381.

Origins

Expressive. Compare Latin ēheu, English oho.

Quick answers

What does heu mean in Latin?
heu, a interjection, means “oh! alas! ah!, ay! (expressing dismay, grief, pain, indignation)”.
How do you pronounce heu?
In classical Latin, [ˈhɛu̯]; in ecclesiastical (church) Latin, [ˈɛːu̯].