waw

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English wawen, waȝien, from Old English wagian (“to move, shake, swing, totter”), from Proto-West Germanic *wagōn, from Proto-Germanic *wagōną (“to move”), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- (“to drag, carry”).

Cognate with German wagen (“to venture, dare, risk”), Dutch wagen (“to venture, dare, also to move, stir”), Swedish våga (“to dare”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wɔː/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː
• Homophone: war

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, waghe, from Old English wǣg (“motion, water, wave, billow, flood, sea”), from Proto-West Germanic *wāg, from Proto-Germanic *wēgaz (“wave, storm”), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- (“to drag, carry”).

Cognate with North Frisian weage (“water, wave”), German Wag, Woge (“wave”), French vague (“wave”), Swedish våg (“wave”).

Alternative forms

• wawe

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wɔː/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː
• Homophone: war

Noun

waw (plural waws)

1. (obsolete) A wave.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     […] 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 Middle English wawe, wowe, waugh, wough, from Old English wāh, wāg (“a wall, partition”), from Proto-Germanic *waigaz (“wall”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyk- (“to bend, twist”).

Cognate with Scots wauch, vauch, Saterland Frisian Wooge (“indoor wall, partition”).

Alternative forms

• wo (Northern England, Derbyshire)
• waugh (Scotland)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wɔː/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː
• Homophone: war

Noun

waw (plural waws)

1. (Northern England, Scotland, dialectal) A wall.
   • 1678, John Ray, A Collection of English Proverbs, section 75:

     She hath been at London to call a strea a straw, and a waw a wall.

   • 1886, Thomas Farrall, Betty Wilson's Cummerland Teals, section 41:

     T'ootside waws was whitewesh't.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:wo.

Etymology 4

From Arabic وَاو (wāw).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wɑːw/, /waʊ/

Noun

waw (plural waws)

1. The twenty-seventh letter of the Arabic alphabet: و.
2. Alternative spelling of vav
   • 2006, George Athas, The Tel Dan Inscription: A Reappraisal and a New Introduction, page 147:

     Rather, the waws of both fragments are demonstrably similar. What Cryer and Becking fail to note is that the style of waw used in Fragment B is also used in Fragment A.

Translations

Anagrams

• aww

Ibatan

Etymology

Compare Yami awaw and Tagalog uhaw.

Adjective

waw

1. thirsty

Ivatan

Etymology

Cognate with Yami awaw.

Adjective

waw

1. thirsty

Maguindanao

Noun

waw

1. thirst

Mapudungun

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

waw (Raguileo spelling)

1. A valley.

References

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

Maranao

Noun

waw

1. thirst

Middle English

Noun

waw

1. Alternative form of wawe

Portuguese

Noun

waw m (plural waws)

1. Alternative spelling of uau

Scots

Etymology

From Old English wagian (“wave, undulate”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wɔː/

Noun

waw (plural waws)

1. (water) wave