oi
oi Lexical Profile
oi Game Scores & Validity
• interjection
British Used to attract someone's attention, or to express surprise, disapproval, or protest, especially in an abrupt or confrontational manner.
"Oi, watch where you're going with that trolley!"
• noun
British A subgenre of punk rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s, characterized by stripped-down instrumentation and associated with working-class subcultures (often capitalized and written with an exclamation mark as Oi!).
"The band's early albums were heavily influenced by late-seventies British Oi music."
New Zealand The grey-faced petrel (Pterodroma gouldi), a large, dark-plumaged seabird native to northern New Zealand that nests in coastal burrows.
"Conservation efforts on the offshore islands have helped protect nesting colonies of the oi from introduced predators."
Word Nuance & Usage
Primarily used in British, Australian, and New Zealand informal speech, 'oi' can sound confrontational or abrupt when directed at strangers, though it is also used playfully among friends or in the sporting chant 'Oi! Oi! Oi!'.
• Rhymes for oi
Word Origin & Etymology
Attested since the 1930s in British English, 'oi' is a Cockney and regional dialectal variant of the earlier call 'hoy', an exclamation used since Middle English to attract attention or drive livestock.