wo
English
Alternative forms
Etymology 1
Variant of who.
Interjection
wo
Etymology 2
Variant of woe.
Noun
wo (countable and uncountable, plural wos)
- Obsolete spelling of woe.
- 1815, Philip Freneau, A collection of poems, on American affairs and a variety of other subjects, page 82[1]:
- Such feeble arms, to work internal wo!
- Hannah More
- But if there was a competition between a sick family and a new broach, the broach was sure to carry the day. This would not have been the case, had they been habituated to visit themselves the abodes of penury and wo.
- 1815, Philip Freneau, A collection of poems, on American affairs and a variety of other subjects, page 82[1]:
Anagrams
Acehnese
Verb
wo
References
- 2007. The UCLA Phonetics Lab Archive. Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Department of Linguistics.
Dongxiang
Etymology
Compare Bonan wa, perhaps from Proto-Mongolic *bü- (“to be”), see Mongolian бий (bii).
Pronunciation
Verb
wo (defective, copulative)
- to be
- existential copula
- Eqie guanjinde nie sizi wo, nie basi wo.
- Once upon a time there was a lion and a tiger.
- equitive copula
- Bi shi er dui nie bawan, yi dui bawan shi jiu Rejie wo, san dui bawan shi nie halao Remi wo.
- I was the bigshot of the second team, the bigshot of the first team was Rejie and the bigshot of the third team was one ugly Remi.
- adjectival copula
- Ene shihoude sumulase hunnerei wo dei.
- If I think [about it] now, it's funny.
- existential copula
- in possessive constructions with the possessor in dative
- Ene ghualade nie ghoni wo.
- These two had a sheep.
- (after -zhi) forming the progressive tense
- Bi ene agvinni nanbangiede nie jian wafande sauzhi wo.
- I live [am living] in a one bedroom house at the south of the village.
Usage notes
- Usually combined with the Chinese copula shi which is placed between two terms while wo follows the second. Either of them or even both can be omitted but both being present is usually the most common setup.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Derived terms
Ewe
Pronoun
wo
German
Etymology
With a widespread dialectal shift from -ā- to -ō-, from Middle High German wā, wār, from Old High German wār, hwār, from Proto-Germanic *hwēr, *hwar. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷis, whence also wer. Cognate with English where.
Pronunciation
Adverb
wo
- (interrogative) where (at what place)
- Wo bist du?
- Where are you?
- (relative) where (at or in which place or situation)
- Ich kenne einen Laden, wo solche Sachen verkauft werden.
- I know a shop where such things are sold.
- (relative, somewhat informal) when, that (on which; at which time)
- Das war der Tag, wo wir uns kennen gelernt haben.
- That was the day when we got to know each other.
- (indefinite, colloquial) somewhere (in or to an uncertain or unspecified location)
- Ich wär gern wo, wo's wärmer ist.
- I'd like to be somewhere where it's warmer.
Usage notes
- The temporal use of wo (meaning “when”) is sometimes frowned upon in formal standard German. There is a tendency to use a preposition + relative pronoun instead: Das war der Tag, an dem wir uns kennen gelernt haben. (“That was the day on which we got to know each other.”) Nevertheless, this usage is very common in spoken German and is also widely acceptable in writing, particularly after adverbs, where the only alternative would be the archaic da: Jetzt, wo ich es weiß, wird mir alles klar. (“Now that I know, it all becomes clear to me.”) Compare French où (“where”), the temporal use of which is perfectly standard.
Conjunction
wo
- (colloquial) when
- Wo ich mich umgedreht hab, haut der mir unvermittelt eine rein.
- When I turned around, he just abruptly punched me in the face.
- Wo ich mich umgedreht hab, haut der mir unvermittelt eine rein.
Usage notes
- This usage is exclusively colloquial and would be considered inappropriate in a formal text.
Synonyms
Pronoun
- (relative, dialectal, nonstandard) who, whom, which, that
- Ich bin der, wo das kann.
- I'm the one who can do that.
- 1979, Margret Weiler, Zur Frage der Integration der Zigeuner in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland: eine Untersuchung der gegenwärtigen Situation der Zigeuner und der sozialpolitischen und sozialarbeiterischen Massnahmen für Zigeuner, self-published doctoral thesis, p. 188
- Aber daß sie sich da mit uns unterhalten, das tun die nicht, mal grad die wo wir mal kennen, das ist eine Familie (...)
- But that they should have a chat with us, they don't do that, just maybe those who we know a bit, that's one family (...)
- Aber daß sie sich da mit uns unterhalten, das tun die nicht, mal grad die wo wir mal kennen, das ist eine Familie (...)
- 1994, Burkhard Hergesell, Arbeiterkulturen im Betrieb: interethnische Beziehungen zwischen Produktionsarbeitern: eine empirische Studie, IKO Verlag für Interkulturelle Kommunikation, p. 133
- Ali: "Und der Hussein, der ist ein Typ, wo / wo doch nicht Türkisch redet. Der redet nur Deutsch mit mir. (...)"
- Ali: "And Hussein, he's a bloke who / who won't speak Turkish. He only talks German to me. (...)"
- Ali: "Und der Hussein, der ist ein Typ, wo / wo doch nicht Türkisch redet. Der redet nur Deutsch mit mir. (...)"
- 2009, Elfriede Jelinek, Die Kontrakte des Kaufmanns. Rechnitz (Der Würgeengel). Über Tiere. – Drei Romane, Rowohlt Taschenbuch, p. 216
- Ich bin, der ich bin. Ich bin, wo ich bin. Ich bin der, wo ich bin. Wo sagt man sowas?
- I am who I am. I am where I am. I am the one that I am. Where do they say it like this?
- Ich bin, der ich bin. Ich bin, wo ich bin. Ich bin der, wo ich bin. Wo sagt man sowas?
Usage notes
- This use is restricted to dialectally influenced vernaculars (Regiolekte) and chiefly to Alemannic areas (Switzerland and south-western Germany). In other regions, this usage is unusual, and scorned by some.
Related terms
German Low German
Etymology 1
From Middle Low German wô (“how”), from Old Saxon [Term?], from Proto-Germanic *hwō. Cognate with English how, German wie, Dutch hoe.
Alternative forms
- (in some dialects) woans
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 291: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "in some dialects" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /vɔu̯/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 291: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "traditional" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): [wɔʊ̯]
Adverb
wo
- how
- Wo vele Daag?
- How many days?
Etymology 2
From Old Saxon hwē, from Proto-Germanic *hwaz. Compare English who, whom, whose.
Pronoun
wo
- (Low Prussian, relative) who, which
- (Low Prussian) Dat, wo ös... ― that which is...
Usage notes
The dative form (also used for the accusative) is woom (wom); the genitive form is woos (wos).
Haitian Creole
Etymology
Adjective
wo
Adverb
wo
Related terms
Hunsrik
Etymology
From Middle High German wā, wār, from Old High German wār, hwār, from Proto-Germanic *hwēr, *hwar.
Pronunciation
Adverb
wo
- (interrogative) where
- Wo bist-du?
- Where are you.
- (relative) where
- Ich waarte dich, wo mein Fatter wohnd.
- I will wait for you where my father lives.
- (relative) when
- In denne Zeid, wo alles deirer waar.
- In those times when everything was more expensive.
Pronoun
wo
- (relative) who
- De Mann, wost-du sihst, is mein Fatter.
- The man you see is my father.
- Die Fraa, wo uns gerufd hod, siehd aarich bees aus.
- The woman who called us seems pretty angry.
Further reading
Japanese
Romanization
wo
- Rōmaji transcription of を
- Rōmaji transcription of ヲ
- Rōmaji transcription of うぉ
- Rōmaji transcription of ウォ
Lashi
Noun
wo
References
Lower Sorbian
Preposition
wo
Luxembourgish
Verb
wo
Mandarin
Romanization
- Nonstandard spelling of wō.
- Nonstandard spelling of wǒ.
- Nonstandard spelling of wò.
Usage notes
- Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.
Middle English
Noun
wo (plural wos)
- Alternative form of woo
Saterland Frisian
Adverb
wo
- how, to what degree
Xhosa
Pronoun
-wo
- Combining stem of wona.
Zulu
Pronoun
-wo
- Combining stem of wona.
- English lemmas
- English interjections
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English obsolete forms
- English two-letter words
- Acehnese lemmas
- Acehnese verbs
- Dongxiang terms inherited from Proto-Mongolic
- Dongxiang terms derived from Proto-Mongolic
- Dongxiang terms with IPA pronunciation
- Dongxiang lemmas
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- Dongxiang terms with usage examples
- Dongxiang defective verbs
- Ewe lemmas
- Ewe pronouns
- German terms inherited from Middle High German
- German terms derived from Middle High German
- German terms inherited from Old High German
- German terms derived from Old High German
- German terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- German terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- German terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- German 1-syllable words
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- Rhymes:German/oː
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- German Low German terms inherited from Middle Low German
- German Low German terms derived from Middle Low German
- German Low German terms inherited from Old Saxon
- German Low German terms derived from Old Saxon
- German Low German terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- German Low German terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- German Low German terms with IPA pronunciation
- German Low German lemmas
- German Low German adverbs
- German Low German terms with usage examples
- German Low German pronouns
- Low Prussian Low German
- Haitian Creole terms derived from French
- Haitian Creole lemmas
- Haitian Creole adjectives
- Haitian Creole adverbs
- Hunsrik terms inherited from Middle High German
- Hunsrik terms derived from Middle High German
- Hunsrik terms inherited from Old High German
- Hunsrik terms derived from Old High German
- Hunsrik terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Hunsrik terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Hunsrik 1-syllable words
- Hunsrik terms with IPA pronunciation
- Hunsrik lemmas
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- Hunsrik pronouns
- Japanese non-lemma forms
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