W#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.However, "Izzard" was formerly a two-syllable pronunciation of the letter Z. 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).{{cite encyclopedia|editor-last=Butterfield|editor-first=Jeremy|encyclopedia=Fowler's Modern English Usage|entry=haitch|quote=To pronounce the letter h in this way [as "haitch"] has long been considered a mark of ignorance or illiteracy, despite the fact that in certain parts of the United Kingdom that pronunciation has always been standard.}}{{Cite news |last=Wood |first=Poppy |date=2024-12-27 |title=‘Haitch’-MRC cannot pronounce own name |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/27/hmrc-aitch-haitch-english-language-letter-h-pronunciation/ |access-date=2025-06-01 |work=The Telegraph |language=en-GB |issn=0307-1235}}

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".{{cite web|last=Volkswagen|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgEvy60bZYI| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060502184847/http://youtube.com/watch?v=qgEvy60bZYI| archive-date=2006-05-02|title=VW Unpimp – Drop it like its hot|website=YouTube|access-date=November 3, 2011}} The fact that many website URLs require a "www." prefix has been influential in promoting these shortened pronunciations.{{citation needed|date=November 2021}}

In other West Germanic languages, its name is monosyllabic: German {{lang|de|We}} {{IPA|/veː/}}, Dutch {{lang|nl|wee}} {{IPA|/ʋeː/}}. In Polish is called "wu" (as "v" and "u"). In many languages, its name literally means "double v": Portuguese duplo vê,In Brazilian Portuguese, it is dáblio, which is a loanword from the English double-u. Spanish doble ve (though it can be spelled uve doble),{{cite web |url=http://www.taringa.net/posts/noticias/7792488/Real-Academia-Espanola-elimina-la-Ch-y-ll-del-alfabeto.html |title=Real Academia Española elimina la Ch y ll del alfabeto |publisher=Taringa! |date=November 5, 2010 |access-date=November 4, 2011 |archive-date=June 3, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130603013419/http://www.taringa.net/posts/noticias/7792488/Real-Academia-Espanola-elimina-la-Ch-y-ll-del-alfabeto.html |url-status=live }}In Latin American Spanish, it is doble ve, similar regional variations exist in other Spanish-speaking countries. French double vé, Icelandic tvöfalt vaff, Czech dvojité vé, Estonian kaksisvee, Finnish kaksois-vee, etc.

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

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 {{IPAslink|w}} (spelled {{angbr|V}}) and {{IPAslink|b}} (spelled {{angbr|B}}) of Classical Latin developed into the voiced bilabial fricative {{IPA|/β/}} between vowels in Early Medieval Latin. Therefore, {{angbr|V}} no longer adequately represented the voiced labial-velar approximant sound {{IPA|/w/}} of Germanic phonology.

File:Coat of arms of Vyborg.svg]]

The Germanic {{IPA|/w/}} phoneme was, therefore, written as {{angbr|VV}} or {{angbr|uu}} ({{angbr|u}} and {{angbr|v}} 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/words/why-is-w-pronounced-double-u|title=Why is 'w' pronounced 'double u' rather than 'double v'? : Oxford Dictionaries Online|publisher=Oxforddictionaries.com|access-date=November 4, 2011|archive-date=August 22, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822083407/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/words/why-is-w-pronounced-double-u|url-status=dead}} 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 {{angbr|VV}}/{{angbr|uu}} was also used in Medieval Latin to represent Germanic names, including Gothic ones like Wamba.

It is from this {{angbr|uu}} 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 {{IPA|/w/}} sound soon came to be represented by borrowing the rune {{angbr|ᚹ}}, adapted as the Latin letter wynn: {{angbr|ƿ}}. In early Middle English, following the 11th-century Norman Conquest, {{angbr|uu}} 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 {{angbr|n}} whose rightmost branch curved around, as in a cursive {{angbr|v}} (viz. $\backslash mathfrak\{w\}.$){{cite web|last1=Shaw|first1=Paul|author-link=Paul Shaw (design historian)|title=Flawed Typefaces|url=https://www.paulshawletterdesign.com/2011/05/flawed-typefaces/|website=Print magazine|access-date=June 30, 2015|archive-date=June 23, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150623071023/http://www.paulshawletterdesign.com/2011/05/flawed-typefaces/|url-status=live}} It was used up to the nineteenth century in Britain and continues to be familiar in Germany.Writing manuals that include it include Edward Cocker's [https://archive.org/details/penstriumphacop00cockgoog/page/n16/mode/2up The Pen's Triumph] of 1658 and engravings of the roundhand calligraphy of Charles Snell and sometimes George Bickham. See also [https://twitter.com/hardwig/status/1262389827233865731 Florian Hardwig's gallery] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200518171944/https://twitter.com/hardwig/status/1262389827233865731 |date=May 18, 2020 }} of images of its use in the German-speaking countries.

Thus, the shift from the digraph {{angbr|VV}} to the distinct ligature {{angbr|W}} 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:

{{blockquote|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"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.}}

In Middle High German (and possibly already in late Old High German), the West Germanic phoneme {{IPA|/w/}} became realized as {{IPAblink|v}}; this is why, today, the German {{angbr|w}} represents that sound.

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

In Europe languages with {{angbr|w}} 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 {{IPA|/v/}} (with Polish, related Kashubian and Wymysorys using Ł for {{IPA|/w/}}, except in conservative and some eastern Polish speech, where Ł still represents the dark L sound.), and Dutch uses it for {{IPA|/ʋ/}}. Unlike its use in other languages, the letter is used in Welsh and Cornish to represent the vowel {{IPA|/u/}} as well as the related approximant consonant {{IPA|/w/}}.File:WondersoftheInvisibleWorld-1693.jpg

The following languages historically used {{angbr|w}} for {{IPA|/v/}} in native words, but later replaced it by {{angbr|v}}: 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 {{angbr|ў}}, for example in the BGN/PCGN{{Cite web |url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/811510/ROMANIZATION_OF_BELARUSIAN.pdf |title=Belarusian romanization (June 2019) (publishing.service.gov.uk) |access-date=November 16, 2021 |archive-date=October 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211006223432/https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/811510/ROMANIZATION_OF_BELARUSIAN.pdf |url-status=live }} system, in contrast to the letter {{angbr|ŭ}}, which is used in the Instruction on transliteration of Belarusian geographical names with letters of Latin script.

File:Kalevala1.jpg

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 {{IPA|[v]}} or {{IPA|[ʋ]}} for West Germanic {{IPA|/w/}}, but {{IPA|[w]}} or {{IPA|[β̞]}} is still heard allophonically for {{angbr|w}}, especially in the clusters {{angbr|schw}}, {{angbr|zw}}, and {{angbr|qu}}. Some Bavarian dialects preserve a "light" initial {{IPA|[w]}}, such as in wuoz (Standard German weiß {{IPA|[vaɪs]}} '[I] know'). The Classical Latin {{IPA|[β]}} is heard in the Southern German greeting Servus ('hello' or 'goodbye').

In Dutch, {{angbr|w}} became a labiodental approximant {{IPA|/ʋ/}} (with the exception of words with -{{angbr|eeuw}}, which have {{IPA|/eːβ/}}, or other diphthongs containing -{{angbr|uw}}). In many Dutch-speaking areas, such as Flanders and Suriname, the {{IPA|/β/}} pronunciation (or in some areas a {{IPA|/ɥ/}} pronunciation, e.g. Belgian-Dutch water {{IPA|/'ɥaːtər/}} "water", wit {{IPA|/ɥɪt/}} "white", eeuw {{IPA|/eːɥ/}} "century", etc.) is used at all times.

In Finnish, {{angbr|w}} is sometimes seen as a variant of {{angbr|v}} 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 {{IPA|/ʋ/}}. The title of the first edition of the Kalevala was spelled Kalewala.

In Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, {{angbr|w}} 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 {{IPA|/v/}}, but in some words of English origin, it may be pronounced {{IPA|/w/}}.{{cite news|url=http://www.denstoredanske.dk/Sprog,_religion_og_filosofi/Sprog/Ortografi/w_W|title=W, w - Gyldendal - Den Store Danske|newspaper=Den Store Danske|access-date=November 7, 2017|archive-date=September 4, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170904141630/http://denstoredanske.dk/Sprog,_religion_og_filosofi/Sprog/Ortografi/w_W|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.svenskaakademien.se/svenska_spraket/svenska_akademiens_ordlista/saol_pa_natet/ordlista |title=Ordlista |access-date=January 29, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120824045619/https://www.svenskaakademien.se/svenska_spraket/svenska_akademiens_ordlista/saol_pa_natet/ordlista |archive-date=August 24, 2012 }}, page 1098 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.{{cite book |last1=Aars |first1=Jonathan |last2=Hofgaard |first2=Simon Wright |title=Norske retskrivnings-regler med alfabetiske ordlister |publisher=W. C. Fabritius & Sønner |year=1907 |language=no |pages=19, 84 |url=http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2006081600014#&struct=DIVP19 |access-date=September 18, 2011 |id=NBN 2006081600014 |archive-date=February 18, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220218163256/https://www.nb.no/items/URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2006081600014#&struct=DIVP19 |url-status=live }} {{angbr|W}} was earlier seen as a variant of {{angbr|v}}, and {{angbr|w}} as a letter (double-v) is still commonly replaced by {{angbr|v}} in speech (e.g. WC being pronounced as VC, www as VVV, WHO as VHO, etc.). The two letters were sorted as equals before {{angbr|w}} was officially recognized, and that practice is still recommended when sorting names in Sweden.{{cite web |url=http://www.spraknamnden.se/fragor/arkiv_sprakrad.htm#w |title=Veckans språkråd 2006 |language=sv |date=July 5, 2007 |access-date=September 18, 2011 |archive-date=October 14, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181014150649/http://www.spraknamnden.se/fragor/arkiv_sprakrad.htm#w |url-status=dead }} In modern slang, some native speakers may pronounce {{angbr|w}} more closely to the origin of the loanword than the official {{IPA|/v/}} 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.{{Cite book|title=Ordbok öfver Halländska landskapsmålet|last=Peter|first=von Möller|publisher=Berlingska boktryckeriet|year=1858|location=Lund|pages=17}} In northern and western Sweden, there are also dialects with {{IPA|/w/}}. Elfdalian is a good example, which is one of many dialects where the Old Norse difference between v ({{IPA|/w/}}) and f ({{IPA|/v/}} or {{IPA|/f/}}) is preserved. Thus, "warg" from Old Norse "vargr", but "åvå" from Old Norse "hafa".

In the alphabets of most modern Romance languages, {{angbr|w}} is used mostly in foreign names and words recently borrowed (Italian il watt, Spanish el kiwi). In Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese, {{IPA|[w]}} is a non-syllabic variant of {{IPA|/u/}}, spelled {{angbr|u}}. In Italian, while the letter {{angbr|w}} 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).{{cite book |last=Zingarelli |first=Nicola |title=Vocabolario della lingua italiana |edition=7 |year=1945 |publisher=Nicola Zanichelli |location=Bologna |page=1713}} The same symbol written upside down indicates abbasso (down with...). In French, {{angbr|w}} 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 {{IPA|[v]}} (because of its German origin; except in Belgium, where it is pronounced [w]) and in the second {{IPA|[w]}}. In most northern French dialects, the former {{angbr|w}} turned finally to {{angbr|v}}, 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 {{angbr|w}} pronounced {{IPA|[w]}}. The digraph {{angbr|ou}} is used to render {{angbr|w}} 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 {{IPA|/dubləve/}}, Spanish {{IPA|/'dɔble 'uβe/}}) though in Belgium the name {{IPA|/we/}} 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".{{cite web |url=http://no-sword.jp/blog/2006/06/let-pretending-to-be-injured-begin.html |title=Let the pretending to be injured begin |publisher=No-sword.jp |date=June 10, 2006 |access-date=November 4, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721183954/http://no-sword.jp/blog/2006/06/let-pretending-to-be-injured-begin.html |archive-date=July 21, 2011 |url-status=dead }} 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 {{angbr|w}} 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). The same symbol written upside down indicates abbasso (down with...).

In the Kokborok language, {{angbr|w}} represents the open-mid back rounded vowel {{IPA|/ɔ/}}.

In Turkey, the use of the {{angbr|w}} was banned between 1928 and 2013{{Cite web|title=Ban on Kurdish letters to be lifted with democracy package - Turkey News|url=https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ban-on-kurdish-letters-to-be-lifted-with-democracy-package-55254|access-date=2022-01-17|website=Hürriyet Daily News|date=September 27, 2013 |language=en|archive-date=January 17, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220117020305/https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ban-on-kurdish-letters-to-be-lifted-with-democracy-package-55254|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|last=Othmann|first=Ronya|title=Kolumne "Import Export": Bei X, Q, W ins Gefängnis|language=de|work=FAZ.NET|url=https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/debatten/tuerkei-die-folgen-des-rassismus-gegenueber-kurden-17473152.html|access-date=2022-01-17|issn=0174-4909|archive-date=January 18, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118182355/https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/debatten/tuerkei-die-folgen-des-rassismus-gegenueber-kurden-17473152.html|url-status=live}} which was a problem for the Kurdish population in Turkey as the {{angbr|w}} was a letter of the Kurdish alphabet.{{Cite news|date=2013-09-27|title=Türkei: Erdogan will kurdische Schriftzeichen erlauben|language=de|work=Der Spiegel|url=https://www.spiegel.de/kultur/gesellschaft/tuerkei-erdogan-will-kurdische-schriftzeichen-erlauben-a-924943.html|access-date=2022-01-17|issn=2195-1349|archive-date=December 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211219021050/https://www.spiegel.de/kultur/gesellschaft/tuerkei-erdogan-will-kurdische-schriftzeichen-erlauben-a-924943.html|url-status=live}} The use of the letter {{angbr|w}} in the word Newroz, the Kurdish new year, was forbidden,{{Cite web|title=Refugee Review Tribunal Australia|url=https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/4b6fe30ad.pdf|url-status=live|access-date=January 17, 2022|archive-date=February 18, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220218163251/https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/4b6fe30ad.pdf}} and names which included the letter were not able to be used.{{Cite news|last=Ataman|first=Ferda|date=2009-10-14|title=Zweijähriger Kurde wird wegen Vornamens staatenlos|language=de-DE|work=Der Tagesspiegel|url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/buchstaben-als-politikum-zweijaehriger-kurde-wird-wegen-vornamens-staatenlos/1616212.html|access-date=2022-01-17|issn=1865-2263|archive-date=January 18, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118184043/https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/buchstaben-als-politikum-zweijaehriger-kurde-wird-wegen-vornamens-staatenlos/1616212.html|url-status=live}} In 2008, a court in Gaziantep reasoned the use of the letter {{angbr|w}} would incite civil unrest.

In Vietnamese, {{angbr|w}} is called {{lang|vi|vê đúp}} or {{Lang|vi|vê kép}} ({{Lit|double V}}), from the French {{lang|fr|double vé}}. 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.{{cite news|title=Ngôn ngữ thời @ của teen|author=Nhật My|work=VnExpress|publisher=FPT Group|date=May 19, 2009|access-date=April 15, 2014|url=http://vnexpress.net/tin-tuc/thoi-su/ngon-ngu-thoi-cua-teen-2131526.html|language=vi|archive-date=April 16, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140416180245/http://vnexpress.net/tin-tuc/thoi-su/ngon-ngu-thoi-cua-teen-2131526.html|url-status=live}}{{cite journal|title=Viết tắt chữ Việt trong ngôn ngữ @|author=Trần Tư Bình|journal=Chim Việt Cành Nam|issue=53|date=November 30, 2013|url=http://vietpali.sourceforge.net/binh/VietTatChuVietTrongNgonNgu-ACong.htm|language=vi|access-date=April 15, 2014|archive-date=February 28, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140228190514/http://vietpali.sourceforge.net/binh/VietTatChuVietTrongNgonNgu-ACong.htm|url-status=live}} It's also commonly used for abbreviating Ư in formal documents, for example Trung Ương is abbreviated as TW{{Cite web|url=http://wcag.dongnai.gov.vn/_layouts/mobile/dispform.aspx?List=c55e1211-325f-4687-84c6-990157dfe5f2&View=c3f190ca-4f63-4476-aa51-7375d3286805&ID=4|title=Từ viết tắt: Trung ương|website=wcag.dongnai.gov.vn|access-date=July 4, 2017|archive-date=November 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107222502/http://wcag.dongnai.gov.vn/_layouts/mobile/dispform.aspx?List=c55e1211-325f-4687-84c6-990157dfe5f2&View=c3f190ca-4f63-4476-aa51-7375d3286805&ID=4|url-status=dead}} 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".{{Cite web|url=http://dangcongsan.vn/he-thong-van-ban.html|title=Hệ thống văn bản|last=VIỆT NAM|first=ĐẢNG CỘNG SẢN|website=dangcongsan.vn|language=vi-VN|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170703231413/http://dangcongsan.vn/he-thong-van-ban.html|archive-date=July 3, 2017|url-status=dead|access-date=July 4, 2017}}

"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".{{fix|text=is that 'h' a glottal stop?}}"W, w, pronounced: wah". English, Leo James Tagalog-English Dictionary. 1990., page 1556.

In Washo, lower-case {{angbr|w}} represents a typical {{IPA|/w/}} sound, while upper-case {{angbr|W}} represents a voiceless w sound, like the difference between English weather and whether for those who maintain the distinction.

In the International Phonetic Alphabet, {{angbr IPA|w}} is used for the voiced labial-velar approximant.

{{main article|W (disambiguation)}}

• W is the symbol for the chemical element tungsten, after its German (and alternative English) name, {{lang|de|Wolfram}}.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GmzxkvNhxnIC&q=w+symbol+for+tungsten&pg=PA289 |title=The CRB Commodity Yearbook 2006 with CD-ROM |last=Commodity Research Bureau |date=September 14, 2006 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |access-date=November 7, 2017 |via=Google Books |isbn=9780470083949 |archive-date=February 18, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220218163251/https://books.google.com/books?id=GmzxkvNhxnIC&q=w+symbol+for+tungsten&pg=PA289 |url-status=live}}
• 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.

• 𐤅: Semitic letter Waw, from which the following symbols originally derive:
• U: Latin letter U
• V: Latin letter V
• Ⱳ ⱳ: W with hook
• {{not a typo|Ꝡ ꝡ}}: Ligature for the Latin letters {{not a typo|VY}}
• Ꟃ ꟃ: Anglicana W, used in medieval English and Cornish{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2017/17238-n4838-anglicana-w.pdf|title=L2/17-238: Proposal to add LATIN LETTER ANGLICANA W to the UCS|date=July 26, 2017|first=Michael|last=Everson|author-link=Michael Everson|access-date=January 15, 2020|archive-date=January 31, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200131222128/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2017/17238-n4838-anglicana-w.pdf|url-status=live}}
• IPA-specific symbols related to W: {{IPA link|ʍ}} {{IPA link|ɯ}} {{IPA link|ɰ}} {{IPA link|ʷ}}
• Uralic Phonetic Alphabet-specific symbols related to W:{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2002/02141-n2419-uralic-phonetic.pdf|title=L2/02-141: Uralic Phonetic Alphabet characters for the UCS|date=March 20, 2002|first1=Michael|last1=Everson|author-link1=Michael Everson|display-authors=etal|website=Unicode.org|access-date=January 15, 2020|archive-date=February 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180219081033/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2002/02141-n2419-uralic-phonetic.pdf|url-status=live}} {{Unichar|1D21|LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL W}} and {{Unichar|1D42|MODIFIER LETTER CAPITAL W}}
• {{not a typo|ʷ}} : Modifier letter small w is used in Indo-European studies{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04191-n2788-laryngeals.pdf|title=L2/04-191: Proposal to encode six Indo-Europeanist phonetic characters in the UCS|date=June 7, 2004|first1=Deborah|last1=Anderson|first2=Michael|last2=Everson|website=Unicode.org|access-date=January 15, 2020|archive-date=October 11, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011014402/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04191-n2788-laryngeals.pdf|url-status=live}}
• {{not a typo|ꭩ}} : Modifier letter small turned w is used in linguistic transcriptions of Scots{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2019/19075r-n5036-scots-phonetics.pdf|title=L2/19-075R: Proposal to add six phonetic characters for Scots to the UCS|date=May 5, 2019|first=Michael|last=Everson|access-date=March 17, 2020|archive-date=June 13, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190613190054/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2019/19075r-n5036-scots-phonetics.pdf|url-status=live}}
• 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

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

{{anchor|Codes for computing}}

{{charmap

| 0057 | 0077 | FF37 | FF57 | name1 = Latin Capital Letter W | name2 = Latin Small Letter W | name3 = FULLWIDTH LATIN CAPITAL LETTER W | name4 = FULLWIDTH LATIN SMALL LETTER W

| map1 = EBCDIC family | map1char1 = E6 | map1char2 = A6

| map2 = ASCII{{refn|group=lower-alpha|Also for encodings based on ASCII, including the DOS, Windows, ISO-8859 and Macintosh families of encodings.}} | map2char1 = 57 | map2char2 = 77

}}

{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

{{Letter other reps

|NATO=Whiskey

|Morse=·––

|Character=W

|Braille=⠺

|fingerspelling=W

}}

{{clear}}

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

Informational notes

{{reflist|group="in"}}

Citations

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons|W}}

{{Wiktionary|W|w}}

{{Latin alphabet|W|}}

Category:ISO basic Latin letters

Category:Latin-script ligatures

Category:Vowel letters