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wag

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wag¹

  • /wæɡ/ US, UK
  • /waɡ/ British, Northern England, Scotland
  • /wæːɡ/ Australia
  • /wɛɡ/ New Zealand
  • /weɪɡ/

Rhymes with -æɡ

Where it comes from

From Middle English waggen, probably from Old English wagian (“to wag, wave, shake”) with reinforcement from Old Norse vaga (“to wag, waddle”); both from Proto-Germanic *wagōną (“to wag”). Related to English way.

The verb may be regarded as an iterative or emphatic form of waw (verb), which is often nearly synonymous; it was used, e.g., of a loose tooth. Parallel formations from the same root are the Old Norse vagga feminine, cradle (Swedish vagga, Danish vugge), Swedish vagga (“to rock a cradle”), vugge (“to rock a cradle”), Dutch wagen (“to move”), early modern German waggen (dialectal German wacken) to waver, totter. Compare waggle, verb

verb wags · wagging · wagged

  1. ambitransitive To swing from side to side, as an animal's tail, or someone's head to express disagreement or disbelief. The dog wagged its tail and jumped at its owner.
  2. Australia, New Zealand, UK, slang To play truant from school. "My misfortunes all began in wagging, Sir; but what could I do, exceptin' wag?" "Excepting what?" said Mr. Carker. "Wag, Sir. Wagging from school." "Do you mean pretending to go there, and not going?" said Mr. Carker. "Yes, Sir, that's wagging, Sir."

    Similar: see Thesaurus:play truant

  3. intransitive, obsolete To go; to proceed; to move; to progress. "Thus we may see," quoth he, "how the world wags."
  4. To move continually, especially in gossip; said of the tongue. She's a real gossip: her tongue is always wagging.
  5. intransitive, obsolete To leave; to depart. I will provoke him to 't, or let him wag.
  6. intransitive, slang Of the tail (lower order of the batting lineup): to score more runs than expected. The tail wagged.

noun wags

  1. An oscillating movement. The wag of my dog's tail expresses happiness.
  2. A witty person. Was not my Lord The veryer Wag o'th' two?

WAG²

  • /wæɡ/

Rhymes with -æɡ

Where it comes from

Back-formation from WAGs (“wives and girlfriends”), mid-2000s.

noun WAGs

  1. Ireland, informal A wife or girlfriend of a sports star or other celebrity, originally and especially of an association football player. The World Cup WAGs are a good example of this. The younger girls, nicknamed the ‘hen-night crowd’ and led by Colleen McLoughlin, dance on tables and drink until the early hours while No. 1 WAG Victoria Beckham remains aloof, dining sedately with Ashley Cole’s fiancee, Cheryl Tweedy.

WAG³

  • /wæɡ/

Rhymes with -æɡ

Where it comes from

Acronyms.

noun WAGs

  1. US, abbreviation, acronym, informal, slang Acronym of wild-ass guess; a rough estimate. Near-synonyms: SWAG, wild guess, uneducated guess, stab in the dark, shot in the dark; see also Thesaurus:supposition

    Similar: SWAG, wild guess, uneducated guess, stab in the dark, shot in the dark, assumption, conjecture, foreguess, given, guess, hunch, hypothesis

  2. abbreviation, acronym Acronym of women's artistic gymnastics

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: waggle, shake, wit, card, stir, agitate, wave, cutup, prankster, jokester, joker, raise, comedian, wig, pundit, waive

Translations

Every language

verb to swing from side to side

Españolmenear, rabear, colear
日本語振る furu, 揺れる yureru
Portuguêsabanar, dar ao rabo
Françaisfrétiller, remuer
Deutschwedeln
Italianoscodinzolare
Ελληνικάκουνώ kounó
Русскийвиля́ть viljátʹ, маха́ть maxátʹ, кача́ть kačátʹ

verb to skip school

中文逃學 /逃学 táoxué, 曠課 /旷课 kuàngkè, 逃課 /逃课 táokè, 翹課 /翘课 qiàokè
Portuguêsvaguear
Françaissécher, faire l’école buissonnière
Deutschschwänzen
Italianomarinare la scuola
Românăchiuli
Русскийпрогу́ливать progúlivatʹ, прогуля́ть proguljátʹ

noun oscillating movement

DeutschWedeln
Italianoscodinzolio
Русскийвиля́ние viljánije

noun witty person

Portuguêsgracejador
DeutschSchelm
Русскийшутни́к šutník, остря́к ostrják

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MLA

"wag." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/wag. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

wag. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/wag

Chicago

"wag." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/wag.

BibTeX
@misc{wag_2026,
  title = {wag},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/wag},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}