wow

See also: WoW

English

Etymology

Attested since the 16th century, of Scottish origin.

Pronunciation

enPR: wou, IPA^(key): /waʊ̯/
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -aʊ

Interjection

wow

An indication of excitement, surprise, astonishment, or pleasure.
- 1513, Gavin Douglas, Virgil Æneid (translation) vi. Prol. 19:
  Out on thir wanderand spiritis, wow! thow cryis.
An expression of amazement, awe, or admiration.
Wow! How do they do that?
Used sarcastically to express disapproval of something.
Wow... I can't believe you would do such a thing.

Synonyms

See also Thesaurus:wow

Derived terms

Translations

excitement

Afrikaans: sjoe (af)
Armenian: ջա՜ն, հրաշալի է (ǰa^!n, hrašali ē)
Assamese: আও (aü), বাঃ (bah)
Esperanto: ŭaŭ
Finnish: vau! (fi)
French: waouh (fr), ouah (fr), oh là là (fr)
Georgian: ვაშა (vaša)
German: toll! (de), boah! (de), Junge! (de) m, Mensch! (de) m
Hiligaynon: abá
Hindi: वाह (hi) (vāh)
Hungarian: hűha!, tyű!, tyűha!, ejha! (hu), azta!
Italian: accipicchia (it), accidenti (it), per tutti i diavoli, per la miseria, incredibile (it)
Korean: 우와 (uwa), 와 (ko) (wa)
Ladin: putega, bestia, ma ies'a mat

Malay: wau
Maori: ānana, ēhe
Navajo: doo lá dóʼ da
Persian: وه‎‎ (fa) (vah), به‎‎ (fa) (bah)
Polish: wow! (pl), o rany
Portuguese: uau (pt), uia, nossa (pt)
Russian: ух ты́ (ru) (ux tý), ва́у (ru) (váu) (neologism), ура́ (ru) (urá)
Spanish: ¡guau! (es), ¡guao! (es), hala (es)
Swedish: oj (sv)
Turkish: vay (tr), vay canına
Urdu: واہ‎‎ (ur) (vāh), وا‎‎ (vā)
Walloon: oufti (wa), ayayay (wa)
Welsh: waw

amazement

Afrikaans: sjoe (af)
Armenian: մաման-ծաղկաման (maman-całkaman)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 哇塞 (zh) (wāsài), 哇 (zh) (wā), 哎呀 (zh) (āiyā)
Dutch: wauw (nl)
Esperanto: ŭaŭ
Finnish: vau (fi), o-ho
French: ouah (fr), oh (fr)
German: wow (de), boah (de)
Hebrew: ואו‎‎ (waw)
Hiligaynon: abá
Hungarian: hűha, tyű, tyűha, ejha (hu)
Icelandic: vá

Japanese: わあ (wā), すごい！ (ja) (sugoi)
Khmer: ចុម (chom), វ៉វ់ (vorv)
Korean: 와 (ko) (wa)
Latin: hui
Malay: wau, wah
Maori: ānana, ēhe, anō
Persian: وه‎‎ (fa) (vah), به‎‎ (fa) (bah)
Portuguese: uau (pt), uia, nossa (pt)
Russian: ого́ (ru) (ogó), ого́ (ru) (ohó), ничего́ себе́! (ničevó sebé), ба (ru) (ba), ишь ты (ru) (išʹ ty), на́до же (ru) (nádo že), обалде́ть (ru) (obaldétʹ), ва́у (ru) (váu) (neologism), здо́рово (ru) (zdórovo), ух ты (ru) (ux ty), офиге́ть (ru) (ofigétʹ), охуе́ть (ru) (oxujétʹ) (vulgar), пизде́ц (ru) (pizdéc) (vulgar), пфф (pff)
Spanish: guau (es), guao (es)
Thai: ว้าว (th) (waaw)
Turkish: vay (tr), vay canına
Welsh: waw

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

Dutch: ^{(please verify)} wauw (nl)
French: ^{(please verify)} oh (fr), ^{(please verify)} oh là là (fr) ^{(please verify)} ouah (fr)
Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} vá
Italian: ^{(please verify)} uao

Romanian: ^{(please verify)} uau
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: вау

Roman: vau

Verb

wow (third-person singular simple present wows, present participle wowing, simple past and past participle wowed)

(informal) To amaze or awe.
He really wowed the audience.

Noun

wow (plural wows)

(informal) An exceptionally surprising or unbelievable fact.
He did? That's a wow!
(audio) A relatively slow form of flutter (pitch variation) which can affect both gramophone records and tape recorders.

Derived terms

wowless

Anagrams

oww

Atikamekw

Noun

wow

egg

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from English wow.

Interjection

wow

An indication of excitement or surprise.

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