w

w U+0077, w LATIN SMALL LETTER W ← v [U+0076] Basic Latin x → [U+0078]

ｗ U+FF57, ｗ FULLWIDTH LATIN SMALL LETTER W ← ｖ [U+FF56] Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms ｘ → [U+FF58]

See also: W, w/, ա, ⴍ, and Appendix:Variations of "w"

Translingual

Alternative forms

• vv (obsolete)

Letter

w (upper case W)

1. The twenty-third letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.
2. The first letter of callsigns allocated to American broadcast television and radio stations east of the Mississippi river.

Pronunciation

• IPA

  (file)

Symbol

w

1. (IPA) voiced labial-velar approximant

Gallery

• Letter styles
• 

  Capital and lowercase versions of W, in normal and italic type

• 

  Uppercase and lowercase W in Fraktur

See also

• (Latin script):  Aa  Bb  Cc  Dd  Ee  Ff  Gg  Hh  Ii  Jj  Kk  Ll  Mm  Nn  Oo  Pp  Qq  Rr  Sſs  Tt  Uu  Vv  Ww  Xx  Yy  Zz
• (Variations of letter W):  Ẃẃ  Ẁẁ  Ŵŵ  Ẅẅ  Ẇẇ  Ẉẉ  W̊ẘ  Ⱳⱳ  ᴡ  Ｗｗ
• (Letter combinations):  Ꜳꜳ  Ææ  ᴁᴭ  Ǽǽ  Ǣǣ  Ꜵꜵ  Åå  Ꜷꜷ  Ꜹꜹ  Ꜻꜻ  Ꜽꜽ  ct  ȸ  DZDzdz  DŽDždž  ᴂᵆ  ᴔ  &  ff  fi  ffi  fl  ffl  ℔  IJij  LJLjlj  Ỻỻ  Ŋŋ  NJNjnj  Œœ  ɶ  Ꝏꝏ  Ȣȣᴕ  ȹ  ẞß  ſtst  ᵫ  Ůů  Ww  Ꝡꝡ
• Turned: ʍ
• Ƿ
• ʬ

Other representations of W:

NATO phonetic: Whiskey Morse code: ·–– Braille: ⠺ ASL Manual: W

Signal flag:

Semaphore:

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English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdʌbl̩.juː/, /ˈdʌb.juː/, /ˈdʌb.jə/, /ˈdʌb/, /ˈdʌbz/

Audio (US)

(file)

• IPA^(key): /w/
• Rhymes: -ʌbjə, -ʌb
• Rhymes: -ʌbəlju

Letter

w (lower case, upper case W, plural w's)

1. The twenty-third letter of the English alphabet, called double-u and written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) letter; A a, B b, C c, D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, I i, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o, P p, Q q, R r, S s, T t, U u, V v, W w, X x, Y y, Z z

Noun

w

1. watt
2. west
3. witness
4. work

Adjective

w

1. (cricket) wide
2. white

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Danish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɔbəlveː/, [ˈd̥ʌb̥əlˌveːˀ]

Letter

w (uppercase W)

1. the twenty-third letter of the Danish alphabet

See also

• (Latin-script letters) bogstav; A a (Á á), B b, C c, D d, E e (É é), F f, G g, H h, I i (Í í), J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o (Ó ó), P p, Q q, R r, S s, T t, U u (Ú ú), V v, W w, X x, Y y (Ý ý), Z z, Æ æ (Ǽ ǽ), Ø ø (Ǿ ǿ), Å å (Ǻ ǻ)

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eː
• (letter name): IPA^(key): /ʋeː/

Letter

w (lower case, upper case W)

1. The twenty-third letter of the Dutch alphabet.

See also

• Previous letter: v
• Next letter: x

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /du.blə.ve/

Letter

w (uppercase W)

1. w

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Fula

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /w/

Letter

w (lower case, upper case W)

1. A letter of the Fula alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

• Common to all varieties of Fula (Fulfulde / Pulaar / Pular).

See also

• (Latin-script letters) karfeeje; ', A a, B b, Mb mb, Ɓ ɓ, C c, D d, Nd nd, Ɗ ɗ, E e, F f, G g, Ng ng, Ɠ ɠ, H h, I i, J j, Nj nj, K k, L l, M m, N n, Ŋ ŋ, Ñ ñ, Ɲ ɲ, O o, P p, R r, S s, T t, U u, W w, Y y, Ƴ ƴ

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Haitian Creole

Pronoun

w

1. Contraction of ou.

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Ido

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /w/

Letter

w (upper case W)

1. The twenty-third letter of the Ido alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) litero; A a, B b, C c, D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, I i, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o, P p, Q q, R r, S s, T t, U u, V v, W w, X x, Y y, Z z

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Italian

Noun

w m, f (invariable)

1. See under W

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Japanese

Etymology 1

Short for 笑う (warau, “to laugh”).

Interjection

w

1. (Internet slang) LOL; an expression of amusement or laughter.

   このバカｗｗｗｗｗｗｗ

   kono baka wwwwwww

   Look at this idiot (lol)!

Usage notes

w is most often found used multiple times in a row as in the example above.

See also

• テラワロス (terawarosu)
• (笑) (kakkowara)
• ワロス (warosu)
• ワロタ (warota)
• 草 (くさ) (kusa)
• 草生 (くさは)える (kusa haeru)
• 草不可避 (くさふかひ) (kusa fukahi)
• 大草原 (だいそうげん) (daisōgen)

Etymology 2

Near homophone of ダブル (daburu, “double”).

Symbol

w (katakana ダブリュー, rōmaji daburyū)

1. Symbol for ダブル (daburu, “double-u”)

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Lower Sorbian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *vъ(n), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁én

Alternative forms

• we (especially before labial consonants and consonant clusters)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /w/ (before vowels)
• (silent before consonants)

Preposition

w (with locative)

1. in

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Malay

Letter

w (lower case, upper case W)

1. The twenty-third letter of the Malay alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) A a, B b, C c, D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, I i, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o, P p, Q q, R r, S s, T t, U u, V v, W w, X x, Y y, Z z

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Norwegian

Pronunciation

• (letter name): IPA^(key): /ˈdɔbəlt.ˌʋeː/
• (phoneme): IPA^(key): /ʋ/, /v/

Letter

w

1. The 23rd letter of the Norwegian alphabet.

Usage notes

• Only appears in loanwords from e.g. German.

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Polish

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *vъ(n), from Proto-Indo-European *én.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f/

• Audio

  (file)

Preposition

w

1. (+ locative) in
2. (+ accusative) into, in
3. (+ accusative) on (time/date)

Usage notes

Some combinations of sounds, mostly consonant clusters at the beginning of the following noun, require that this preposition is used in longer form we. Examples:

• we włosach (in the hair)
• we Wrocławiu (in Wrocław)

But:

• w Warszawie (in Warsaw)

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Portuguese

Pronunciation

• Audio (BR)

  (file)

Letter

w (lower case, upper case W)

1. The twenty-third letter of the Portuguese alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) letra; A a (Á á, À à,  â, àã), B b, C c (Ç ç), D d, E e (É é, Ê ê), F f, G g, H h, I i (Í í), J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o (Ó ó, Ô ô, Õ õ), P p, Q q, R r, S s, T t, U u (Ú ú), V v, W w, X x, Y y, Z z

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Spanish

Pronunciation

• (phoneme) IPA^(key): /w/, /ɡu/, /β/
• (letter name) IPA^(key): /ˈuβe ˈdoβle/, /ˈdoβle be/

  • Audio (Spain)

    (file)

Letter

w (lower case, upper case W)

1. The 24th letter of the Spanish alphabet.

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Swedish

Pronunciation

Letter name

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɵbɛlveː/

Phoneme

• IPA^(key): /v/

Letter

w (lower case, upper case W)

1. The twenty-third letter of the Swedish alphabet, called dubbel-ve and written in the Latin script. Previously treated as a variant of the letter v and not as its own independent letter.

Usage notes

• In blackletter typography, w was commonly used instead of v. When printers (gradually during the 19th century) changed to Latin typography, spelling changed from w to v, except in some family names. However, this change does not count as a spelling reform.
• In many abbreviations, Swedes say v (ve, as in German) instead of w (dubbel ve), e.g. BMW (be emm ve), VW (ve ve), WC (ve se), WHO (ve hå o), WWW (ve ve ve).

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Turkmen

Pronunciation

• (phoneme) IPA^(key): /β/

Letter

w (upper case W)

1. The twenty-seventh letter of the Turkmen alphabet, called we and written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) harp; A a, B b, Ç ç, D d, E e, Ä ä, F f, G g, H h, I i, J j, Ž ž, K k, L l, M m, N n, Ň ň, O o, Ö ö, P p, R r, S s, Ş ş, T t, U u, Ü ü, W w, Y y, Ý ý, Z z

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Welsh

Alternative forms

• (in negative statements; also in affirmative statements in North Wales): dw
• (in affirmative statements): rw

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [u]

Verb

w

1. (colloquial, South Wales) first-person singular present of bod (in affirmative or negative statements)

   W i yn y car. ― I’m in the car.

   W i ddim yn hapus. ― I’m not happy.

Related terms

• ydw (interrogative)

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Zulu

Letter

w (lower case, upper case W)

1. The twenty-third letter of the Zulu alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) A a, B b, C c, D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, I i, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o, P p, Q q, R r, S s, T t, U u, V v, W w, X x, Y y, Z z