# wag

> English word · Verb · IPA /wæɡ/ · frequency rank #28,081

## Definitions
1. To swing from side to side, as an animal's tail, or someone's head to express disagreement or disbelief.
2. To play truant from school.
3. To go; to proceed; to move; to progress.
4. To move continually, especially in gossip; said of the tongue.
5. To leave; to depart.
6. Of the tail (lower order of the batting lineup): to score more runs than expected.

## Etymology
From Middle English waggen, probably from Old English wagian (“to wag, wave, shake”) with reinforcement from Old Norse vaga (“to wag, waddle”); both from Proto-Germanic *wagōną (“to wag”). Related to English way.
The verb may be regarded as an iterative or emphatic form of waw (verb), which is often nearly synonymous; it was used, e.g., of a loose tooth. Parallel formations from the same root are the Old Norse vagga feminine, cradle (Swedish vagga, Danish vugge), Swedish vagga (“to rock a cradle”), vugge (“to rock a cradle”), Dutch wagen (“to move”), early modern German waggen (dialectal German wacken) to waver, totter. Compare waggle, verb

## Easily confused with
- **we** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wag-vs-we)
- **wi** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wag-vs-wi)
- **Wu** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wag-vs-wu)
- **wo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wag-vs-wo)
- **WC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wag-vs-wc)
- **wt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wag-vs-wt)
- **WS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wag-vs-ws)
- **WV** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wag-vs-wv)
- **WD** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wag-vs-wd)
- **WL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wag-vs-wl)
- **wy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wag-vs-wy)
- **WF** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wag-vs-wf)
- **was** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wag-vs-was)
- **who** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wag-vs-who)
- **way** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wag-vs-way)
- **why** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wag-vs-why)
- **war** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wag-vs-war)
- **win** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wag-vs-win)
- **won** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wag-vs-won)
- **wow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wag-vs-wow)

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/wag