← He Waw Zayin → | ||||
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Phoenician | Hebrew | Aramaic | Syriac | Arabic |
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ו | ![]() |
ܘ | و |
Phonemic representation: | w, v, o, u | |||
Position in alphabet: | 6 | |||
Numerical (Gematria/Abjad) value: | 6 |
Waw (wāw, also spelled vav or vau) (In Hebrew: Vav) is the sixth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic (in abjadi order; it is 27th in modern Arabic order). In most Semitic languages it represents the voiced labial-velar approximant IPA: [w], and in some (particularly Arabic) also the long close back rounded vowel /uː/ depending on context, while in Hebrew it represents a labial approximant, either IPA: [v] or /β/, a pattern shared by the non-Semitic languages using the Arabic alphabet (e.g. Persian and Urdu).
The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek digamma (Ϝ, whose name in Greek was probably Ϝαυ) and upsilon (Υ), and Etruscan V (,
); V later developed into U and W.
Waw is derived from a hieroglyph depicting a hook.
Contents |
Phoenician alphabet (ca. 1050–200 BCE) |
𐤀 𐤁 𐤂 𐤃 𐤄 𐤅 |
𐤆 𐤇 𐤈 𐤉 𐤊 𐤋 |
𐤌 𐤍 𐤎 𐤏 𐤐 |
𐤑 𐤒 𐤓 𐤔 𐤕 |
Semitic abjads · Genealogy |
Hebrew alphabet (1000 BCE–present) |
א ב ג ד ה ו |
ז ח ט י כך |
ל מם נן ס ע פף |
צץ ק ר ש ת |
History · Transliteration Niqqud · Dagesh · Gematria Cantillation · Numeration |
Syriac alphabet (200 BCE–present) |
ܐ ܒ ܓ ܕ ܗ ܘ |
ܙ ܚ ܛ ܝ ܟܟ ܠ |
ܡܡ ܢܢ ܣ ܥ ܦ |
ܨ ܩ ܪ ܫ ܬ |
Arabic alphabet (400 CE–present) |
ا ب ت ث ج ح |
خ د ذ ر ز س |
ش ص ض ط ظ ع |
غ ف ق ك ل |
م ن ه و ي |
History · Transliteration Diacritics · Hamza ء Numerals · Numeration |
Orthographic variants | ||||
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Various Print Fonts | Cursive Hebrew |
Rashi Script |
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Serif | Sans-serif | Monospaced | ||
ו | ו | ו | ![]() |
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Vav has three orthographic variants, each with a different phonemic value and phonetic realisation[1]:
Variant (with Niqqud) | without Niqqud | Name | Phonemic Value | Phonetic Realisation | English example |
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ו |
as initial letter:ו |
Consonantal Vav (Hebrew: Vav Itsurit ([vav iʦu'ʁit] / ו׳ עיצורית) |
/v/ | [v] | vote |
as middle letter:וו | |||||
as final letter:ו or יו | |||||
וּ |
ו |
Vav Shruka ([vav ʃʁu'ka] / ו׳ שרוקה) or Shuruq ([ʃu'ʁuk] / שׁוּרוּק) |
/u/ | [u] | approximates put or moon |
וֹ |
ו |
Vav Chaluma ([vav χalu'ma] / ו׳ חלומה) or Holam Male ([χɔ'lam ma'lɛ] / חוֹלָם מָלֵא) |
/o/ | [ɔ̝] | approximates door |
Consonantal vav (ו) represents a voiced labiodental fricative (like the English v) in Ashkenazi, European Sephardi and modern Israeli Hebrew; and a Labial-velar approximant (/w/) by most Jews of Eastern origin.
Vav can be used as a mater lectionis for an 'o' vowel, in which case it is known as a holom male, and in pointed text is marked with a dot above and to the left and is usually pronounced as /o/.
This vowel can also appear without the vav, as just the dot, and is known then as holom haser. (The vav may still take a holom haser and thus appear identical to this vowel although the consonant is pronounced, thus representing the sound vo as in mitzvot .)
Vav can also be used as a mater lectionis for an 'oo' vowel, in which case it is known as a shuruk, and in text with niqqud is marked with a dot in the middle (on the left side) and is usually transcribed as /ʊ/.
Vav in gematria represents the number six, and when used at the beginning of Hebrew years, it means 6000 (i.e. ותשנד in numbers would be the date 6754.)
Modern Hebrew has no way to distinguish orthographically between [v] and [w]. The pronunciation is either determined by prior knowledge or must be derived through context.
Some non standard transliterations of the sound [w] are sometimes found in modern Hebrew texts, such as two Vavs side by side (officially used in a text without Niqqud to mark a non initial and a non final Vav as the consonant (phoneme) /v/, as opposed to the vowels (phonemes) /u/ and /o/ which are always represented by a single Vav) or a Vav with a chupchik (like an apostrophe).
Loanwords with English W are often pronounced with [w].
Vav at the beginning of the word has several possible meanings:
(Note: Older Hebrew did not have "tense" in a temporal sense, "perfect," and "imperfect" instead denoting aspect of completed or continuing action. Modern Hebrew verbal tenses have developed closer to their Indo-European counterparts, mostly having a temporal quality rather than denoting aspect. As a rule, Modern Hebrew does not use the "Vav Consecutive" form.)
Waw's pronunciation as a consonant is w (labial-velar approximant) and as mater lectionis a u (close back rounded vowel) or o.
The letter و is named واو wāw, and is written is several ways depending in its position in the word:
Position in word: | Isolated | Initial | Medial | Final |
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Form of letter: | و | (None) | (None) | ـو |
Wāw is used to represent three distinct phonetic features:
As a vowel, wāw can serve as the carrier of a hamza: ؤ.
Wāw serves several functions in the Arabic language. Perhaps foremost among them is that it is the primary conjunction in Arabic, equivalent to "and"; it is usually prefixed to other conjunctions, such as ولكن wa-lakin, meaning "but". Another function is the "oath", by preceding a noun of great significantly valued by the speaker. It is often literally translatable to "By..." or "I swear to...", and is often used in the Qur'an in this way, and also in the generally fixed construction والله wallah ("By Allah!" or "I swear to God!").
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