w

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

Contents

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:

---

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

---

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)

---

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

---

Egyptian

Pronunciation

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /uː/
  • Conventional anglicization: u

Particle

 enclitic

1. (Old Egyptian) not; used to negate the subjunctive or prospective in wishes and commands

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of w  

w

References

• Allen, James (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, second edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 198, 415

---

Finnish

Letter

w (lower case, upper case W)

1. A letter of the Finnish alphabet, called kaksoisvee and written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

• In the Finnish alphabet, w is a variant of v.
• Used only in loanwords and proper names with old spelling.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) kirjain; 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 (Š š), T t, U u, V v (W w), X x, Y y, Z z (Ž ž), Å å, Ä ä, Ö ö

---

French

Pronunciation

• (letter name) IPA^(key): /du.blə.ve/

Letter

w (uppercase W)

1. w

---

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

---

Gothic

Romanization

w

1. Romanization of 𐍅

---

Haitian Creole

Pronoun

w

1. Contraction of ou.

---

Ido

Pronunciation

• (context pronunciation) IPA^(key): /w/
• (letter name) IPA^(key): /we/

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

---

Italian

Noun

w m, f (invariable)

1. See under W

---

Japanese

Etymology 1

Short for 笑い (warai, “laughing”).

Punctuation mark

w

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

   このバカｗｗｗｗｗｗｗ

   kono baka wwwwwww

   look at this idiot lol

   ちょｗｗｗお前 (まえ)のツイート伸 (の)びすぎｗｗｗ有 (ゆう)名 (めい)人 (じん)じゃんｗｗｗｗｗ

   cho www omae no tsuīto nobisugi www yūmeijin jan wwwww

   yo hol up, your tweet's crazy popular 🔥😂 you're goddamn famous 😂

Usage notes

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

See also

• (笑 (わらい)) (kakko warai)
• ワロス (warosu)
• ワロタ (warota)
• 草 (くさ) (kusa)

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”)

---

Lower Sorbian

Alternative forms

• we (especially before labial consonants and consonant clusters)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

Preposition

w (with locative)

1. in

---

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

---

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.

---

Polish

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f/, /v/
• (letter name) IPA^(key): /vu/

• 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)

---

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

---

Spanish

Pronunciation

• (phoneme) IPA^(key): /w/, /ɡw/, /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.

---

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).

---

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

---

Welsh

Alternative forms

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʊ/, /w/

Usage notes

This word is usually found in conjunction with the pronoun i and so may be pronounced as part of a diphthong /ʊi̯/ or as /wiː/.

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)

---

Zhuang

Pronunciation

• (Standard Zhuang) IPA^(key): /ɯ˨˦/
• Tone numbers: w¹
• Hyphenation: w

Noun

w (old orthography ɯ)

1. gum (in the eye)

---

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