waw
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waw¹
- /wɔː/
Sounds like war (non-rhotic) · Rhymes with -ɔː
Where it comes from
From Middle English wawen, waȝien, from Old English wagian (“to move, shake, swing, totter”), from Proto-West Germanic *wagōn, from Proto-Germanic *wagōną (“to move”), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- (“to drag, carry”).
Cognate with German wagen (“to venture, dare, risk”), Dutch wagen (“to venture, dare, also to move, stir”), Swedish våga (“to dare”).
verb waws · wawing · wawed
- To stir; move; wave.
waw²
- /wɔː/
Sounds like war (non-rhotic dialects) · Rhymes with -ɔː
Where it comes from
From Middle English wawe, waȝe, waghe, from Old English wǣg (“motion, water, wave, billow, flood, sea”), from Proto-West Germanic *wāg, from Proto-Germanic *wēgaz (“wave, storm”), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- (“to drag, carry”).
Cognates
Cognate with North Frisian waag (“wave”), West Frisian weach (“wave”), Dutch waag (“wave”), German Woge, Wooge (“wave”), Danish vove, våg (“wave”), Faroese vágur (“bay”), Icelandic vogur (“bay”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish våg (“wave”), Gothic 𐍅𐌴𐌲𐍃 (wēgs, “wave”), French vague (“wave”) (from Old Norse vágr (“ocean, sea; wave”)). See also wave.
noun waws · wawe
- A wave. […] nigh it drawes All passengers, that none from it can shift: For whiles they fly that Gulfes deuouring iawes, They on this rock are rent, and sunck in helplesse wawes.
waw³
- /wɔː/
Sounds like war · Rhymes with -ɔː
Where it comes from
From Middle English wawe, wowe, waugh, wough, from Old English wāh, wāg (“a wall, partition”), from Proto-West Germanic *waig, from Proto-Germanic *waigaz (“wall”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyk- (“to bend, twist”).
Cognate with Scots wauch, vauch, Saterland Frisian Wooge (“indoor wall, partition”).
noun waws · wo · waugh
- A wall. She hath been at London to call a strea a straw, and a waw a wall.
waw⁴
- /wɑːw/
- /waʊ/
Where it comes from
From Arabic وَاو (wāw). Doublet of wau.
noun waws
- The twenty-seventh letter of the Arabic alphabet: و.
- Alternative spelling of vav Rather, the waws of both fragments are demonstrably similar. What Cryer and Becking fail to note is that the style of waw used in Fragment B is also used in Fragment A.
WAW⁵
noun
- Initialism of write after write, a kind of data hazard.
- Initialism of writing about writing
Translations
Talk about this word "waw." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/waw. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. waw. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/waw "waw." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/waw.Cite this
@misc{waw_2026,
title = {waw},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/waw},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
