waw
English Edit
Etymology 1 Edit
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 Edit
Verb Edit
waw (third-person singular simple present waws, present participle wawing, simple past and past participle wawed)
- (transitive, obsolete) To stir; move; wave.
Etymology 2 Edit
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 Edit
Pronunciation Edit
Noun Edit
waw (plural waws)
- (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 Edit
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 Edit
Pronunciation Edit
Noun Edit
waw (plural waws)
- (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 Edit
Pronunciation Edit
Noun Edit
waw (plural waws)
- The twenty-seventh letter of the Arabic alphabet: و.
- 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 Edit
Anagrams Edit
Ibatan Edit
Etymology Edit
Compare Yami awaw and Tagalog uhaw.
Adjective Edit
waw
Ivatan Edit
Etymology Edit
Adjective Edit
waw
Maguindanao Edit
Noun Edit
waw
Mapudungun Edit
Etymology Edit
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Noun Edit
waw (Raguileo spelling)
- A valley.
References Edit
- Wixaleyiñ: Mapucezugun-wigkazugun pici hemvlcijka (Wixaleyiñ: Small Mapudungun-Spanish dictionary), Beretta, Marta; Cañumil, Dario; Cañumil, Tulio, 2008.
Maranao Edit
Noun Edit
waw
Middle English Edit
Noun Edit
waw
- Alternative form of wawe
Portuguese Edit
Noun Edit
waw m (plural waws)
- Alternative spelling of uau
Scots Edit
Etymology Edit
From Old English wagian (“wave, undulate”).
Pronunciation Edit
Noun Edit
waw (plural waws)
- (water) wave