wow

English

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• enPR: wou, IPA^(key): /waʊ̯/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊ

Etymology

Attested since the 16th century, of Scottish origin.

Interjection

wow

1. An indication of excitement or surprise.
   • 1513, Gavin Douglas, Virgil Æneid (translation) vi. Prol. 19:

     Out on thir wanderand spiritis, wow! thow cryis.

2. An expression of amazement or awe.

   Wow! How do they do that?

3. Used sarcastically to express disapproval of something.

   Wow... I can't believe you would do such a thing."

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:wow

Derived terms

• wowsers
• wowzer

Translations

excitement

• Armenian: ջա՜ն, հրաշալի է (ǰa^!n, hrašali ē)
• Esperanto: ŭaŭ
• Finnish: vau! (fi)
• French: waouh (fr), ouah (fr), oh là là (fr)
• Georgian: ვაშა (vaša)
• German: Toll!
• Hiligaynon: abá
• Hindi: वाह (vāh)
• Hungarian: hűha!, tyű!, tyűha!, ejha!
• Italian: accipicchia (it), accidenti (it), per tutti i diavoli, per la miseria, incredibile (it)

• Korean: 우와 (Uwa)
• Malay: wau
• Maori: ānana
• Persian: به (fa) (bah)
• Polish: wow! (pl), o rany
• Portuguese: uau (pt), uia
• Russian: ух ты (ux ty), вау (ru) (váu) (neologism)
• Turkish: vay (tr), vay canına
• Urdu: واہ (ur) (vāh), وا (vā)
• Walloon: oufti (wa), ayayay (wa)

amazement

• Armenian: մաման-ծաղկաման (maman-całkaman)
• Chinese:

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

• Finnish: vau! (fi), o-ho!
• French: ouah! (fr), oh! (fr)
• German: wow (de)
• Hebrew: ואו (waw)
• Hiligaynon: abá
• Hungarian: hűha!, tyű!, tyűha!, ejha!
• Icelandic: vá
• Japanese: わあ (wā), すごい！ (ja) (sugoi!)
• Latin: hui!

• Malay: wau
• Maori: ānana
• Persian: به (fa) (bah)
• Portuguese: uau (pt), uia
• Russian: ого (ru) (ogó, ohó), ничего себе! (ničevó sebé!), ба (ru) (ba), ишь ты (ru) (išʹ ty), надо же (ru) (nádo že), обалдеть (ru) (obaldétʹ), вау (ru) (váu) (neologism), здорово (ru) (zdórovo), ух ты (ux ty), офигеть (ru) (ofigétʹ)
• Spanish: guao
• Thai: ว้าว (waaw)
• Turkish: vay (tr), vay canına

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 Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: wauw! (nl)
• French: oh! (fr), oh là là! (fr) ouah! (fr)
• Icelandic: vá!
• Italian: uao!

• Romanian: uau!
• Serbo-Croatian:

Cyrillic: вау

Roman: vau

• Spanish: ¡uau!, ¡guau!

Verb

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

1. (informal) To amaze or awe.

   He really wowed the audience.

Noun

wow (plural wows)

1. (informal) An exceptionally surprising or unbelievable fact.

   He did? That's a wow!

Anagrams

• oww