W

W, or w, is the twenty-third letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is double-u,<ref group="in">Pronounced Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell in formal situations, but colloquially often Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell, Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell, Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell or Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell, with a silent l.</ref> plural double-ues.<ref>"W", Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition (1989); 'W", Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition (1989); Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (1993) Merriam Webster</ref><ref>Brown & Kiddle (1870) The institutes of grammar, p. 19.
Double-ues is the plural of the name of the letter; the plural of the letter itself is written W's, Ws, w's, or ws.</ref>

Name

Double-u, whose name reflects stages in the letter's evolution when it was considered two of the same letter, a double U, is the only modern English letter whose name has more than one syllable.<ref group="in">However, "Izzard" was formerly a two-syllable pronunciation of the letter Z.</ref> It is also the only English letter whose name is not pronounced with any of the sounds that the letter typically makes in words, with the exception of H (though not for all speakers, particularly in British English).<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Some speakers shorten the name "double u" into "dub-u" or just "dub"; for example, University of Wisconsin, University of Washington, University of Wyoming, University of Waterloo, University of the Western Cape and University of Western Australia are all known colloquially as "U Dub", and the automobile company Volkswagen, abbreviated "VW", is sometimes pronounced "V-Dub".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The fact that many website URLs require a "www." prefix has been influential in promoting these shortened pronunciations.Template:Citation needed

In other West Germanic languages, its name is monosyllabic: German {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, Dutch {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} {{#invoke:IPA|main}}. In many languages, its name literally means "double v": Portuguese duplo vê,<ref group="in">In Brazilian Portuguese, it is dáblio, which is a loanword from the English double-u.</ref> Spanish doble ve (though it can be spelled uve doble),<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref group="in">In Latin American Spanish, it is doble ve, similar regional variations exist in other Spanish-speaking countries.</ref> French double vé, Icelandic tvöfalt vaff, Czech dvojité vé, Estonian kaksisvee, Finnish kaksois-vee, etc.

History

Proto-Sinaitic	Phoenician Waw	Western Greek Upsilon	Latin V	Latin W
File:Proto-semiticW-01.png	File:PhoenicianW-01.svg	File:Greek Upsilon normal.svg	Latin V	Latin W

File:William Caslon IV Five Lines Pica No. 2 Italic (cropped).jpg

CitationClass=web }}</ref> a late appearance in a font of Template:Circa.<ref name="Caslon IV">Template:Cite book</ref>

The classical Latin alphabet, from which the modern European alphabets derived, did not have the "W" character. The "W" sounds were represented by the Latin letter "V" (at the time, not yet distinct from "U").

The sounds Template:IPAslink (spelled Template:Angbr) and Template:IPAslink (spelled Template:Angbr) of Classical Latin developed into the voiced bilabial fricative {{#invoke:IPA|main}} between vowels in Early Medieval Latin. Therefore, Template:Angbr no longer adequately represented the voiced labial-velar approximant sound {{#invoke:IPA|main}} of Germanic phonology.

File:Coat of arms of Vyborg.svg

A letter W appearing in the coat of arms of Vyborg

The Germanic {{#invoke:IPA|main}} phoneme was, therefore, written as Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr (Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr becoming distinct only by the Early Modern period) by the earliest writers of Old English and Old High German, in the 7th or 8th centuries.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Gothic (not Latin-based), by contrast, had simply used a letter based on the Greek Υ for the same sound in the 4th century. The digraph Template:Angbr/Template:Angbr was also used in Medieval Latin to represent Germanic names, including Gothic ones like Wamba.

It is from this Template:Angbr digraph that the modern name "double U" derives. The digraph was commonly used in the spelling of Old High German but only in the earliest texts in Old English, where the {{#invoke:IPA|main}} sound soon came to be represented by borrowing the rune Template:Angbr, adapted as the Latin letter wynn: Template:Angbr. In early Middle English, following the 11th-century Norman Conquest, Template:Angbr regained popularity; by 1300, it had taken wynn's place in common use.

Scribal realisation of the digraph could look like a pair of Vs whose branches crossed in the middle: both forms (separate and crossed) appear, for instance, in the "running text" (in Latin) of the Bayeux tapestry in proper names such as EDVVARDVS and VVILLELMVS (or the same with crossed Vs). Another realisation (common in roundhand, kurrent and blackletter) takes the form of an Template:Angbr whose rightmost branch curved around, as in a cursive Template:Angbr (viz. <math>\mathfrak{w}. </math>)<ref name="Flawed Typefaces">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Berry Roundhand" /> It was used up to the nineteenth century in Britain and continues to be familiar in Germany.<ref group="in">Writing manuals that include it include Edward Cocker's The Pen's Triumph of 1658 and engravings of the roundhand calligraphy of Charles Snell and sometimes George Bickham. See also Florian Hardwig's gallery Template:Webarchive of images of its use in the German-speaking countries.</ref>

Thus, the shift from the digraph Template:Angbr to the distinct ligature Template:Angbr was gradual and was only apparent in abecedaria, explicit listings of all individual letters. It was probably considered a separate letter by the 14th century in both Middle English and Middle German orthography. However, it remained an outsider, not really considered part of the Latin alphabet proper, as expressed by Valentin Ickelshamer in the 16th century, who complained that:

Poor w is so infamous and unknown that many barely know either its name or its shape, not those who aspire to being Latinists, as they have no need of it, nor do the Germans, not even the schoolmasters, know what to do with it or how to call it; some call it we, [... others] call it uu, [...] the Swabians call it auwawau<ref>"Arm w ist so unmer und unbekannt, dasz man schier weder seinen namen noch sein gestalt waiszt, die Lateiner wöllen sein nit, wie sy dann auch sein nit bedürffen, so wissen die Teütschen sonderlich die schülmaister noch nitt was sy mit im machen oder wie sy in nennen sollen, an ettlichen enden nennet man in we, die aber ein wenig latein haben gesehen, die nennen in mit zwaien unterschidlichen lauten u auff ainander, also uu ... die Schwaben nennen in auwawau, wiewol ich disen kauderwelschen namen also versteh, das es drey u sein, auff grob schwäbisch au genennet." cited after Grimm, Deutsches Wörterbuch.</ref>{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries

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In Middle High German (and possibly already in late Old High German), the West Germanic phoneme {{#invoke:IPA|main}} became realized as Template:IPAblink; this is why, today, the German Template:Angbr represents that sound.

Use in writing systems

English

English uses Template:Angbr to represent {{#invoke:IPA|main}}. There are also a number of words beginning with a written Template:Angbr that is silent in most dialects before a (pronounced) Template:Angbr, remaining from usage in Old English in which the Template:Angbr was pronounced: wreak, wrap, wreck, wrench, wroth, wrinkle, etc. Certain dialects of Scottish English still distinguish this digraph. Template:Angbr represents a vowel sound, {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, in the word pwn, and in the Welsh loanwords cwm and crwth, it retains the Welsh pronunciation, {{#invoke:IPA|main}}. Template:Angbr is also used in digraphs: Template:Angbr {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, Template:Angbr {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, Template:Angbr {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, wherein it is usually an orthographic allograph of Template:Angbr in final positions. It is the fifteenth most frequently used letter in the English language, with a frequency of about 2.56% in words.

Other languages

In Europe languages with Template:Angbr in native words are in a central-western European zone between Cornwall and Poland: English, German, Low German, Dutch, Frisian, Welsh, Cornish, Breton, Walloon, Polish, Kashubian, Sorbian, Wymysorys, Resian and Scandinavian dialects. German, Polish, Wymysorys and Kashubian use it for the voiced labiodental fricative {{#invoke:IPA|main}} (with Polish, related Kashubian and Wymysorys using Ł for {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, except in conservative and some eastern Polish speech, where Ł still represents the dark L sound.), and Dutch uses it for {{#invoke:IPA|main}}. Unlike its use in other languages, the letter is used in Welsh and Cornish to represent the vowel {{#invoke:IPA|main}} as well as the related approximant consonant {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.

File:WondersoftheInvisibleWorld-1693.jpg

A 1693 book printing that uses the "double u" alongside the modern letter; this was acceptable if printers did not have the letter in stock or the font had been made without it.

The following languages historically used Template:Angbr for {{#invoke:IPA|main}} in native words, but later replaced it by Template:Angbr: Swedish, Finnish, Czech, Slovak, Latvian, Lithuanian, Estonian, Ukrainian Łatynka and Belarusian Łacinka. It is also used in modern systems of Romanization of Belarusian for the letter Template:Angbr, for example in the BGN/PCGN<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> system, in contrast to the letter Template:Angbr, which is used in the Instruction on transliteration of Belarusian geographical names with letters of Latin script.

File:Kalevala1.jpg

Titlepage of the first edition of the Kalevala, 1835

In Swedish and Finnish, traces of this old usage may still be found in proper names. In Hungarian remains in some aristocratic surnames, e.g. Wesselényi.

Modern German dialects generally have only {{#invoke:IPA|main}} or {{#invoke:IPA|main}} for West Germanic {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, but {{#invoke:IPA|main}} or {{#invoke:IPA|main}} is still heard allophonically for Template:Angbr, especially in the clusters Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, and Template:Angbr. Some Bavarian dialects preserve a "light" initial {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, such as in wuoz (Standard German weiß {{#invoke:IPA|main}} '[I] know'). The Classical Latin {{#invoke:IPA|main}} is heard in the Southern German greeting Servus ('hello' or 'goodbye').

In Dutch, Template:Angbr became a labiodental approximant {{#invoke:IPA|main}} (with the exception of words with -Template:Angbr, which have {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, or other diphthongs containing -Template:Angbr). In many Dutch-speaking areas, such as Flanders and Suriname, the {{#invoke:IPA|main}} pronunciation (or in some areas a {{#invoke:IPA|main}} pronunciation, e.g. Belgian-Dutch water {{#invoke:IPA|main}} "water", wit {{#invoke:IPA|main}} "white", eeuw {{#invoke:IPA|main}} "century", etc.) is used at all times.

In Finnish, Template:Angbr is sometimes seen as a variant of Template:Angbr and not a separate letter, but it is a part of the official alphabet. It is, however, recognized and maintained in the spelling of some old names, reflecting an earlier German spelling standard, and in some modern loan words. In all cases, it is pronounced {{#invoke:IPA|main}}. The title of the first edition of the Kalevala was spelled Kalewala.

In Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, Template:Angbr is named double-v and not double-u. In these languages, the letter only exists in old names, loanwords and foreign words. (Foreign words are distinguished from loanwords by having a significantly lower level of integration in the language.) It is usually pronounced {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, but in some words of English origin, it may be pronounced {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}, page 1098</ref> The letter was officially introduced in the Danish and Swedish alphabets as late as 1980 and 2006, respectively, despite having been in use for much longer. It had been recognized since the conception of modern Norwegian with the earliest official orthography rules of 1907.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Template:Angbr was earlier seen as a variant of Template:Angbr, and Template:Angbr as a letter (double-v) is still commonly replaced by Template:Angbr in speech (e.g. WC being pronounced as VC, www as VVV, WHO as VHO, etc.). The two letters were sorted as equals before Template:Angbr was officially recognized, and that practice is still recommended when sorting names in Sweden.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In modern slang, some native speakers may pronounce Template:Angbr more closely to the origin of the loanword than the official {{#invoke:IPA|main}} pronunciation.

Multiple dialects of Swedish and Danish use the sound, however. In Denmark, notably in Jutland, the northern half uses it extensively in traditional dialect, and in multiple places in Sweden. It is used in southern Swedish; for example, the words "wesp" (wisp) and "wann" (water) are traditionally used in Halland.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In northern and western Sweden, there are also dialects with {{#invoke:IPA|main}}. Elfdalian is a good example, which is one of many dialects where the Old Norse difference between v ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}) and f ({{#invoke:IPA|main}} or {{#invoke:IPA|main}}) is preserved. Thus, "warg" from Old Norse "vargr", but "åvå" from Old Norse "hafa".

In the alphabets of most modern Romance languages, Template:Angbr is used mostly in foreign names and words recently borrowed (Italian il watt, Spanish el kiwi). In Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese, {{#invoke:IPA|main}} is a non-syllabic variant of {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, spelled Template:Angbr. In Italian, while the letter Template:Angbr is not considered part of the standard Italian alphabet, the character is often used in place of Viva (hooray for...), generally in the form in which the branches of the Vs cross in the middle, at least in handwriting (in fact it could be considered a monogram).<ref name="Zingarelli 1945 1713">Template:Cite book</ref> The same symbol written upside down indicates abbasso (down with...). In French, Template:Angbr is also used mostly in foreign names and words recently borrowed such as wagon or week(-)end, but in the first case it is pronounced {{#invoke:IPA|main}} (because of its German origin; except in Belgium, where it is pronounced [w]) and in the second {{#invoke:IPA|main}}. In most northern French dialects, the former Template:Angbr turned finally to Template:Angbr, but still exists as a remnant in the place-names of Romance Flanders, Picardie, Artois, Champagne, Romance Lorraine and sometimes elsewhere (Normandy, Île-de-France), and in the surnames from the same regions. Walloon as it sounds conserves the Template:Angbr pronounced {{#invoke:IPA|main}}. The digraph Template:Angbr is used to render Template:Angbr in rare French words such as ouest "west" and to spell Arabic names transliterated -wi in English, but -oui in French (compare Arabic surname Badawi / Badaoui). In all these languages, as in Scandinavian languages mentioned above, the letter is named "double v" (French {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, Spanish {{#invoke:IPA|main}}) though in Belgium the name {{#invoke:IPA|main}} is also used.

In Indonesian, the letter "w" is called wé. The letter names in Indonesian are always the same with the sounds they produce, especially the consonants.

The Japanese language uses "W", pronounced daburu, as an ideogram meaning "double".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It is also used in internet slang to indicate laughter (like LOL), derived from the word warau (笑う, meaning "to laugh").

In Italian, while the letter Template:Angbr is not considered part of the standard Italian alphabet, the character is often used in place of Viva (hooray for...), generally in the form in which the branches of the Vs cross in the middle, at least in handwriting (in fact, it could be considered a monogram).<ref name="Zingarelli 1945 1713"/> The same symbol written upside down indicates abbasso (down with...).

In the Kokborok language, Template:Angbr represents the open-mid back rounded vowel {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.

In Turkey, the use of the Template:Angbr was banned between 1928 and 2013<ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> which was a problem for the Kurdish population in Turkey as the Template:Angbr was a letter of the Kurdish alphabet.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The use of the letter Template:Angbr in the word Newroz, the Kurdish new year, was forbidden,<ref name=":2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and names which included the letter were not able to be used.<ref name=":1" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2008, a court in Gaziantep reasoned the use of the letter Template:Angbr would incite civil unrest.<ref name=":2"/>

In Vietnamese, Template:Angbr is called {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Template:Lit), from the French {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}. It is not included in the standard Vietnamese alphabet, but it is often used as a substitute for qu- in literary dialect and very informal writing.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> It's also commonly used for abbreviating Ư in formal documents, for example Trung Ương is abbreviated as TW<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> even in official documents and document ID number, derived from the Vietnamese Telex input method that usually interpret a single "w" into Vietnamese character "ư".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

"W" is the 24th letter in the Modern Filipino Alphabet and has its English name. However, in the old Filipino alphabet, Abakada, it was the 19th letter and had the name "wah".Template:Fix<ref>"W, w, pronounced: wah". English, Leo James Tagalog-English Dictionary. 1990., page 1556.</ref>

In Washo, lower-case Template:Angbr represents a typical {{#invoke:IPA|main}} sound, while upper-case Template:Angbr represents a voiceless w sound, like the difference between English weather and whether for those who maintain the distinction.

Other systems

In the International Phonetic Alphabet, Template:Angbr IPA is used for the voiced labial-velar approximant.

Other uses

• W is the symbol for the chemical element tungsten, after its German (and alternative English) name, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• W is the SI symbol for the watt, the standard unit of power.
• w is also often used as a variable in mathematics, especially to represent a complex number or a vector.
• Former U.S. president George W. Bush was given the nickname "Dubya" after the colloquial pronunciation of his middle initial in Texas, where he spent much of his childhood.
• W stands for Work in physics.

Related characters

Ancestors, descendants and siblings

• 𐤅: Semitic letter Waw, from which the following symbols originally derive:
• U: Latin letter U
• V: Latin letter V
• Ⱳ ⱳ: W with hook
• Template:Not a typo: Ligature for the Latin letters Template:Not a typo
• Ꟃ ꟃ: Anglicana W, used in medieval English and Cornish<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• IPA-specific symbols related to W: Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
• Uralic Phonetic Alphabet-specific symbols related to W:<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> Template:Unichar and Template:Unichar

• Template:Not a typo : Modifier letter small w is used in Indo-European studies<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Template:Not a typo : Modifier letter small turned w is used in linguistic transcriptions of Scots<ref name="l219075">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• W with diacritics: Ẃ ẃ Ẁ ẁ Ŵ ŵ Ẅ ẅ Ẇ ẇ Ẉ ẉ ẘ
• װ (double vav): the Yiddish and Hebrew equivalent of W
• Arabic و, has the same origin despite bearing little resemblance to W

Ligatures and abbreviations

• ₩ : Won sign, capital letter W with double stroke

See also

• Digamma (Ϝ), the archaic Greek letter for /w/
• Voiced labio-velar approximant
• Wh (digraph)

References

Informational notes Template:Reflist

Citations Template:Reflist