wow

See also: WoW

English

Etymology 1

Attested since the 16th century; borrowed from Scots wow.

Pronunciation

• enPR: wou, IPA^(key): /waʊ̯/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊ

Interjection

wow

1. An indication of excitement, surprise, astonishment, or pleasure.

   Wow, I sure was surprised!

   • 1513, Gavin Douglas, Virgil Æneid (translation) vi. Prol. 19:

     Out on thir wanderand spiritis, wow! thow cryis.

2. An expression of amazement, awe, or admiration.

   Wow! How do they do that?

3. Used sarcastically to express disapproval of something.

   Wow… good job using all of our supplies on the first day.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:wow

Derived terms

• wowzer, wowser
• wowsers
• wowzah
• wowee

 

Translations

excitement

• Afrikaans: sjoe (af)
• Arabic:

  Hijazi Arabic: وي‎ (way), وَه‎ (wah), واو‎ (wāw)

• Armenian: ջա՜ն, հրաշալի է (ǰa^!n, hrašali ē)
• Assamese: আও (aü), বাঃ (bao)
• Esperanto: ŭaŭ
• Estonian: vau
• Finnish: vau! (fi)
• French: waouh (fr), ouah (fr), oh là là (fr)
• Georgian: ვაშა (vaša)
• German: toll! (de), boah! (de), Junge! (de) m, Mensch! (de) m
• Greek:

  Ancient: βαβαί (babaí)

• Hiligaynon: abá
• Hindi: वाह (hi) (vāh)
• Hungarian: ejha! (hu), hűha!, hű (hu), tyűha!, tyű!, azta!, húha, hú, fú (hu), azt a mindenit
• Italian: accipicchia (it), accidenti (it), per tutti i diavoli, per la miseria, incredibile (it), perbacco (it)
• Japanese: うわ (ja) (uwa), わあ (wā), ワオ (wao)
• Korean: 우와 (uwa), 와 (ko) (wa), 와우 (wau)

• Ladin: putega, bestia, ma ies'a mat
• Latin: papae
• Macedonian: леле (mk) (lele)
• Malay: wau
• Maori: ānana, ēhe
• Navajo: doo lá dóʼ da
• Persian: وه‎ (fa) (vah), به‎ (fa) (bah)
• Polish: wow! (pl), o rany
• Portuguese: uau (pt), uia, nossa (pt)
• Russian: ух ты́ (ru) (ux tý), ва́у (ru) (váu) (neologism), ура́ (ru) (urá)
• Spanish: ¡guau! (es), ¡guao! (es), hala (es), arrea (es), atiza (es), órale (es)
• Swedish: oj (sv)
• Turkish: vay (tr), vay canına
• Urdu: واہ‎ (ur) (vāh), وا‎ (vā)
• Walloon: oufti (wa), ayayay (wa)
• Welsh: waw

amazement

• Afrikaans: sjoe (af)
• Armenian: մաման-ծաղկաման (maman-całkaman)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 哇塞 (zh) (wāsài), 哇 (zh) (wā), 哎呀 (zh) (āiyā)

• Dutch: wauw (nl)
• Esperanto: ŭaŭ
• Finnish: vau (fi), o-ho, jukoliste (fi)
• French: ouah (fr), oh (fr)
• German: wow (de), boah (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: βαβαί (babaí)

• Hebrew: ואו‎ (waw)
• Hiligaynon: abá
• Hindi: वाह (hi) (vāh)
• Hungarian: ejha! (hu), hűha!, hű (hu), tyűha!, tyű!, azta!, húha, hú, fú (hu), azt a mindenit
• Icelandic: vá

• Japanese: わあ (wā), すごい！ (ja) (sugoi)
• Khmer: ចុម (chom), វ៉វ់ (vorv)
• Korean: 와 (ko) (wa)
• Latin: hui
• Lithuanian: vau (lt)
• Malay: wau, wah
• Maori: ānana, ēhe, anō
• Persian: واه‎ (fa) (vâh), وا‎ (fa) (vâ)
• Polish: wow (pl)
• Portuguese: uau (pt), uia, nossa (pt), ena!
• Russian: ого́ (ru) (ogó), ого́ (ru) (ohó), ничего́ себе́! (ru) (ničevó sebé!), ба (ru) (ba), ишь ты (ru) (išʹ ty), на́до же (ru) (nádo že), обалде́ть (ru) (obaldétʹ), ва́у (ru) (váu) (neologism), здо́рово (ru) (zdórovo), ух ты (ru) (ux ty), офиге́ть (ru) (ofigétʹ), охуе́ть (ru) (oxujétʹ) (vulgar), пизде́ц (ru) (pizdéc) (vulgar), пфф (pff)
• Spanish: guau (es), guao (es)
• Thai: ว้าว (th) (waaw)
• Turkish: vay (tr), vay canına
• Ukrainian: нічого собі (ničoho sobi), нічосі (ničosi) (slang)
• Vietnamese: ồ (vi)
• Welsh: waw

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} wauw (nl)
• French: ^{(please verify)} oh (fr), ^{(please verify)} oh là là (fr) ^{(please verify)} ouah (fr)
• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} vá
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} uao

• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} uau
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: вау

  Roman: vau

Verb

wow (third-person singular simple present wows, present participle wowing, simple past and past participle wowed)

1. (transitive, informal) To amaze or awe.

   He really wowed the audience.

   • 2015, Joe Sweeney; Mike Yorkey, Moving the Needle, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 200:

     If all of us can remember how great it felt to be wowed, why don't we make it a habit to do it more often for others? People remember you when you wow them, so to differentiate yourself with your clients and customers, think of doing something that would make them remember you.

Translations

to amaze or awe

• German: begeistern (de), in Begeisterung versetzen (de), tief beeindrucken (de)

Noun

wow (plural wows)

1. (informal) Anything exceptionally surprising, unbelievable, outstanding, etc.

   He did? That's a wow!

   • 1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 144:

     ‘And say, Jimmy, wait till you see me in my new outfit...It’s a wow, kid.’

   • 1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, p. 27:

     ‘Jesus suffering fuck,’ said Adrian. ‘It's not half a thought.’¶ ‘Face it, it's a wow.’

Derived terms

• wowless

Etymology 2

Imitative.

Noun

wow (countable and uncountable, plural wows)

1. (audio) A relatively slow form of flutter (pitch variation) which can affect both gramophone records and tape recorders.
   • 1970, Larry G. Goodwin, ‎Thomas Koehring, Closed-circuit Television Production Techniques (page 80)

     Sound films have to be loaded so that the sound is 5 seconds before the sound drum so a wow does not result when the film is punched up on the air.

Anagrams

• oww

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Atikamekw

Noun

wow

1. egg

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Middle English

Noun

wow

1. Alternative form of wowe

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Polish

Etymology

From English wow.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /waw/

Interjection

wow

1. (colloquial, slang, informal) wow

Further reading

• wow in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• wow in Polish dictionaries at PWN

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Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English wow.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwau/, [ˈwau̯]

Interjection

wow

1. wow (an indication of excitement or surprise)

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.