# woke

> English word · Adjective · IPA /wəʊk/ · frequency rank #4,999

## Definitions
1. Awake: conscious and not asleep.
2. Alert, aware of what is going on, or well-informed, especially of racial and other social justice issues.
3. Holding progressive views or attitudes, principally with regard to social justice.
4. Promoting cancel culture, identitarianism, pontification, victim mentality, or virtue signalling.

## Etymology
Shortened from woken or woken up, or derived from dialectal use of woke (past participle of wake). The sense of being aware of social injustice dates to at least the 1930s. The derogatory use has been most commonly used as of the 2020s.

## Easily confused with
- **won** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/woke-vs-won)
- **wow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/woke-vs-wow)
- **WWE** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/woke-vs-wwe)
- **woo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/woke-vs-woo)
- **wot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/woke-vs-wot)
- **wop** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/woke-vs-wop)
- **wor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/woke-vs-wor)
- **wye** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/woke-vs-wye)
- **work** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/woke-vs-work)
- **word** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/woke-vs-word)
- **wood** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/woke-vs-wood)
- **wolf** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/woke-vs-wolf)
- **wore** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/woke-vs-wore)
- **worn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/woke-vs-worn)
- **wont** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/woke-vs-wont)
- **wool** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/woke-vs-wool)
- **worm** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/woke-vs-worm)
- **wong** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/woke-vs-wong)
- **womb** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/woke-vs-womb)
- **woof** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/woke-vs-woof)

## Common misspellings (5)
`owke`, `wkoe`, `woek`, `wokke`, `wwoke`

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