w

w

w¹ or W [dub′əl yo͞o΄]

n.

pl. W's, w's

1. the twenty-third letter of the English alphabet: its sound was represented in Anglo-Saxon manuscripts by uu or u until about A.D. 900, then by Ƿ ( wen) borrowed from the runic alphabet; in the 11th cent. a ligatured VV or vv was introduced by Norman scribes to replace the wen

2. any of the speech sounds that this letter represents, as, in English, the (w) of will

3. a type or impression for w or W

4. the twenty-third in a sequence or group

5. an object shaped like W

adj.

1. of w or W

2. twenty-third in a sequence or group

3. shaped like W

w²

abbrev.

1. waist

2. watt(s)

3. week(s)

4. weight

5. west

6. western

7. wide

8. width

9. wife

10. with: also w., w/

11. win(s)

12. Physics work