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W (iou)



W, w.
The twenty-third letter of the modern English alphabet, originating from a ligature of the Roman letter represented by U and V of modern alphabets. The sound normally represented by the letter is the bilabial semivowel [w], closely resembling the value of Roman consonantal U or V. The sound was at first represented by uu, but in Old English and early Middle English the runic character wynn was widely used, this in turn being replaced in Middle English by the ligature w. Consonantal w is now silent initially and medially before r and may be silent before h (see WH) and (in some words as answer, sword, two) after s and t. It may also be elided in the unstressed 2nd elem. of a compound, as in place-names (Norwich) and in certain nautical terms (forward, gunwale). Vocalic w results from the Middle English mutation of g and y (cf. YOGH) and medially and terminally forms a digraph with the preceding stressed vowel (as in bow); also from Middle English w was freq. used instead of u as 2nd elem. of other digraphs (as in paw, yew). Pl. W's, Ws.
I.
The letter and its sound.
The shape of the letter.
W-shaped adjective having a shape or a cross-section like the capital letter W.
II. Symbolical uses.
Used to denote serial order; applied e.g. to the twenty-third (or often the twenty-second, either I or J being omitted) group or section, sheet of a book, etc.
Genetics. (Cap. W.) Denoting the female-determining sex chromosome in species in which the female rather than the male is the heterogametic sex (as in birds and some insects).
Particle Physics. [Initial letter of weak.] (Cap. W.) Denoting a heavy charged vector boson that is probably the quantum of the weak interaction.
III.
Abbrevs.: W = west(ern); watt(s); Welsh; (Chemistry) [mod. Latin] wolframium tungsten; women('s size). w. = wicket(s); wide(s); wife; with.