waw

English

Pronunciation

• IPA: /wɔː/

Etymology 1

From Middle English wawen, waȝien, from Old English wagian (“to move, shake, swing, totter”), from Proto-Germanic *wagōnan (“to move”), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵhe- (“to drag, carry”). Cognate with German wagen (“to venture, dare, risk”), Swedish våga (“to dare”).

Verb

waw (third-person singular simple present waws, present participle wawing, simple past and past participle wawed)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To stir; move; wave.

Etymology 2

From Middle English wawe, waȝe, from Old English wǣg (“motion, water, wave, billow, flood, sea”), from Proto-Germanic *wēgaz (“wave, storm”), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵhe- (“to drag, carry”). Cognate with North Frisian weage (“water, wave”), German Wag, Woge (“wave”), French vague (“wave”), Swedish våg (“wave”).

Noun

waw (plural waws)

1. (obsolete) A wave (of water).
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.xii:

     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.

Etymology 3

From Arabic واو (wāw).

• Letter of the Arabic alphabet: و
  • Last: ه
  • Next: ي

Noun

waw (plural waws)

1. The twenty-seventh letter of the Arabic alphabet: و.
2. Alternative spelling of vav.

Anagrams

• aww

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Mapudungun

Noun

waw (using Raguileo Alphabet)

1. valley

References

• Wixaleyiñ: Mapucezugun-wigkazugun pici hemvlcijka (Wixaleyiñ: Small mapudungun-spanish dictionary), Beretta, Marta; Cañumil, Dario; Cañumil, Tulio, 2008.

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Scots

Pronunciation

• IPA: /wɔː/

Etymology

Related to Old English waġian (“wave, undulate”).

Noun

waw (plural waws)

1. wave (of water)