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PlainSpell

waive

/weɪv/verb

waive is spelled W-A-I-V-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.7 times per million words in written English, the 21,209th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “waive vs wave” about 1,600 times a month (Google, United States). As a verb, waive means “To relinquish (a right etc.); to give up claim to; to forgo” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in waive?

Letters5: W-A-I-V-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing1.7 times per million words; the 21,209th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Sounds like
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is waive?

Waive appears 1.7 times per million words in written English, the 21,209th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce waive?

  • US /weɪv/
  • British /wɛjv/
  • Australia /wæɪv/

Waive has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-waive.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with waive

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

waive vs wave1,600 G

Sounds like: wave (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Also written: wave.

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with waive?

8 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as waive from its last stressed vowel (/eɪv/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of waive

  • waives present, singular, he/she/it
  • waiving participle, present
  • waived participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does waive mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To relinquish (a right etc.); to give up claim to; to forgo.

    If you waive the right to be silent, anything you say can be used against you in a court of law.

  2. 2

    To relinquish claim on a payment or fee which would otherwise be due.

  3. 3

    CanadaUSTo release [a player] onto the waiver wire

  4. 4

    archaicTo put aside, avoid.

    […] seeing in many such occasions of common life we advisedly do renounce or waive our own opinions, absolutely yielding to the direction of others

  5. 5

    obsoleteTo outlaw (someone).

  6. 6

    obsoleteTo abandon, give up (someone or something).

  7. 7

    obsoleteTo move from side to side; to sway.

  8. 8

    obsoleteTo stray, wander.

noun

  1. 1

    obsoleteA woman put out of the protection of the law; an outlawed woman.

  2. 2

    obsoleteA waif; a castaway.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Waive in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchrenoncer à (to relinquish; to give up claim to)
Germanverzichten, aufgeben (to relinquish; to give up claim to), verlassen (to put aside, avoid)
Spanishdispensar, renunciar a, no aplicar, no exigir, prescindir de, exonerar de (to relinquish; to give up claim to)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does waive come from?

From Middle English weyven (“to avoid, renounce”), from Anglo-Norman weyver (“to abandon, allow to become a waif”), from Old French waif (“waif”), from gaiver (“to abandon”), ultimately of Scandinavian/North Germanic origin; see weyver.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after waive