oops

See also: OOPS

English

Etymology

A presumably 'natural' exclamation, attested in writing since 1921. Related to or a variation of whoops (itself attested since 1933). A shortening of whoops-a-daisy, whoopsie-daisy, or oops-a-daisy, which in turn is a mispronunciation of ups-a-daisy or upsy-daisy.

Pronunciation

• enPR: o͞ops, IPA^(key): /uːps/, /ʊps/

• Audio (General American):

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• Audio (Received Pronunciation):

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• Rhymes: -uːps, -ʊps

Interjection

oops

1. (colloquial) Acknowledging a mistake.

   Synonyms: oopsy, uh-oh, whoops, whoops-a-daisy

   Oops! I left the lid off the ketchup.

   • 2000, Max Martin, Rami Yacoub (lyrics and music), “Oops!… I Did It Again”, in Oops!… I Did It Again, performed by Britney Spears:

     Oops, I did it again / I played with your heart, got lost in the game

Derived terms

• oops baby
• oopsie

Translations

acknowledging a minor mistake

• Arabic: آهٍ (ar) (ʔāhin)
• Breton: chaous (br)
• Catalan: vaja (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 哎呀 (zh) (āiyā, āiyá), 啊哈 (zh) (āhā)

• Czech: jejda (cs)
• Danish: ups (da), hovsa
• Dutch: oeps (nl), oei (nl), ai (nl), amaai (Belgian Dutch expression)
• Esperanto: ups, oj (eo)
• Finnish: ups (fi), oho (fi), hups (fi), upsista, hupsis, hupsista
• French: oups (fr), houp! (fr)
• Georgian: უი (ui), ვაი (vai), უფს (ups)
• German: ups (de), huch (de), hoppla (de)
• Greek: ουπς (el) (oups)
• Hebrew: אוּפְּס (he) (ups)
• Hungarian: hoppá (hu), hopp (hu), ajjaj (hu)
• Icelandic: úps, æ (is), obbosí
• Indonesian: ups
• Irish: hoips, úps
• Italian: ups, ops (it)
• Japanese: おっと (ja) (otto), しまった (shimatta), あら (ja) (ara), おや (ja) (oya), あらら (arara), はあ (ja) (hā)
• Korean: 아차 (ko) (acha)
• Malay: oop
• Navajo: yíh, wah, waháá
• Polish: oj (pl), ups (pl)
• Portuguese: opa (pt), ops (pt)
• Romanian: ups
• Russian: ой (ru) (oj), упс (ru) (ups) (neologism), ох (ru) (ox)
• Serbo-Croatian: ups, jao (sh), (slang, from English "shit") šit (sh), ajoj, joj (sh)
• Spanish: ops (es), ups (es)
• Swedish: hoppsan (sv), oj (sv)
• Tagalog: ay (tl)

used sarcastically to acknowledge a major mistake

• Dutch: oeps (nl), oei (nl)
• Finnish: ups (fi), oho (fi)
• Hungarian: hoppáka
• Japanese: おっと (ja) (otto), あら (ja) (ara)
• Malay: oop
• Polish: oj (pl), ups (pl)
• Russian: ой (ru) (oj), упс (ru) (ups) (neologism)
• Spanish: oh oh

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• German: ^{(please verify)} hoppla (de), ^{(please verify)} upps
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} ops (it)
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} oj (sv), ^{(please verify)} hoppsan (sv)
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} ay (tr)

Noun

oops (plural oopses or oops)

1. A minor mistake or unforeseen difficulty.
   • 2011, Housetraining, →ISBN, page 14:

     It's an oops, but one that's your fault, not your puppy's.

   • 2013, Bruce Tucker, Leadership at the Crossroads, →ISBN:

     Every plan and every activity has an “oops.” Oops, we forgot to..., oops, who was supposed to do that? We all have experienced “oopses”.

   • 2014, Al Rennie, Clearwater Oops!, →ISBN:

     Isn't she the same woman who works at Wings that you and Billy almost got arrested for helping her with her last little oops?

   • 2015, Dawn Klehr, If You Wrong Us, →ISBN:

     My parents had moved to this house, which sat on the border of Corktown and Mexicantown, from their tiny apartment in Ann Arbor—once they found out that their little oops was actually two little oops.

Verb

oops (third-person singular simple present oopses, present participle oopsing, simple past and past participle oopsed)

1. (intransitive, colloquial) To make a mistake; to blunder.

Translations

to blunder — see blunder

Anagrams

• POOs, SOPO, poos, soop