waw
/wɔː/
"waw" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“waw” is uncommon English (frequency #59,803 among 12,113 “W” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #59,803
- frequency rank, English
- 12,113
- “W” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To stir; move; wave.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | waw |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /wɔː/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #59,803 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “waw” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
waw is uncommon English at frequency #59,803 among 12,113 “W” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /wɔː/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To stir; move; wave.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for waw, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: 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 ventur… The correct English form is waw, spelled W-A-W.
Definition
- 1To stir; move; wave.
Etymology
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”).
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “waw”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is W-A-W - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /wɔː/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.