# wave

> English word · Verb · IPA /weɪv/ · frequency rank #2,423

## Definitions
1. To move back and forth repeatedly and somewhat loosely.
2. To move one's hand back and forth (generally above the shoulders) in greeting or departure.
3. To call attention to, or give a direction or command to, by a waving motion, as of the hand; to signify by waving; to beckon; to signal; to indicate.
4. To have an undulating or wavy form.
5. To raise into inequalities of surface; to give an undulating form or surface to.
6. To style (the hair) so as to produce a wavy texture.
7. To swing and miss at a pitch.
8. To cause to move back and forth repeatedly.
9. To signal (someone or something) with a waving movement.
10. To fluctuate; to waver; to be in an unsettled state.
11. To move like a wave, or by floating; to waft.

## Etymology
From Middle English waven, from Old English wafian (“to wave, fluctuate, waver in mind, wonder”), from Proto-West Germanic *wabōn, from Proto-Germanic *wabōną, *wabjaną (“to wander, sway”), from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to move to and from, wander”).
Cognate with Middle High German waben (“to wave”), German wabern (“to waft”), Icelandic váfa (“to fluctuate, waver, doubt”). See also waver.

## Easily confused with
- **we** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wave-vs-we)
- **WV** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wave-vs-wv)
- **way** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wave-vs-way)
- **WWE** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wave-vs-wwe)
- **wax** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wave-vs-wax)
- **wee** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wave-vs-wee)
- **woe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wave-vs-woe)
- **Wie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wave-vs-wie)
- **wye** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wave-vs-wye)
- **were** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wave-vs-were)
- **wife** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wave-vs-wife)
- **ways** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wave-vs-ways)
- **wide** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wave-vs-wide)
- **wine** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wave-vs-wine)
- **wise** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wave-vs-wise)
- **wire** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wave-vs-wire)
- **wore** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wave-vs-wore)
- **woke** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wave-vs-woke)
- **wipe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wave-vs-wipe)
- **wavy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wave-vs-wavy)

## Common misspellings (5)
`awve`, `waev`, `wavve`, `wvae`, `wwave`

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