W
letter of the Latin alphabet
W is the twenty-third (number 23) letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name is pronounced "double-u"[note 1] or "double-ve". It is the only letter with three syllables.
| W | |
|---|---|
| W w | |
 | |
| Usage | |
| Writing system | Latin script |
| Type | Alphabetic and Logographic |
| Unicode value | U+0057, U+0077 |
| Alphabetical position | 23 |
| History | |
| Development | |
| Time period | ~600 to present |
| Other | |
| The Latin alphabet | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aa | Bb | Cc | Dd | ||
| Ee | Ff | Gg | Hh | Ii | Jj |
| Kk | Ll | Mm | Nn | Oo | Pp |
| Rr | Ss | Tt | Uu | Vv | |
| Ww | Xx | Yy | Zz | ||
In words like away, what, write and women, the W is a consonant (semivowel). In words like draw, few, low and cwm, the W is a vowel.
Meanings for W
change- On calendars, W is most times a short letter for Wednesday.
- In chemistry, W is the symbol for tungsten, after its German name, Wolfram.
- In news story writing, the "five W's" are who, what, when, where and why.
- In electricity, W stands for watts
- In particle physics, W stands for the W boson. Some words sound as if they start with an R, but they start with a silent W, like wrong, and wreck, which is why you never hear the W at the beginning of these words, as you can see. Note that only the R sound can be heard, because it comes after the silent W starting the words.
- In slang, W stands for Win.
Notes
change- ↑ Pronounced /ˈdʌbəl.juː, ˈdʌb(ə)juː, -jə/
Other websites
change The dictionary definition of w at Wiktionary
Media related to W at Wikimedia Commons