Waw (letter)
| Waw | |
|---|---|
| Phoenician | 𐤅 |
| Hebrew | ו |
| Aramaic | 𐡅 |
| Syriac | ܘ |
| Arabic | و |
| Phonemic representation | w, v, o, u |
| Position in alphabet | 6 |
| Numerical value | 6 |
| Alphabetic derivatives of the Phoenician | |
| Greek | Ϝ, Υ |
| Latin | F, U, V, W, Y |
| Cyrillic | У, Ѵ |
Waw (wāw "hook") is the sixth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician wāw 𐤅, Aramaic waw 𐡅, Hebrew vav ו, Syriac waw ܘ and Arabic wāw و (sixth in abjadi order; 27th in modern Arabic order). It is also related to the Ancient North Arabian 𐪅, South Arabian 𐩥, and Ge'ez ወ.
It represents the consonant [w] in classical Hebrew, and [v] in modern Hebrew, as well as the vowels [u] and [o]. In text with niqqud, a dot is added to the left or on top of the letter to indicate, respectively, the two vowel pronunciations.
It is the origin of Greek Ϝ (digamma) and Υ (upsilon); Latin F, V and later the derived Y, U and W; and the also derived Cyrillic У and Ѵ.