Definition of: w, W

(dub′əl·y, -y) noun plural w's, W's or ws, Ws or doub·le·yous
1. The 23rd letter of the English alphabet; double u: a ligature of vv or uu. It first came into English writing as a substitution by Norman scribes of the 11th century for the Old English rune wen, which later dropped completely out of use.
2. The sound of the letter w, a voiced bilabial velar semivowel before vowels (we, wage, worry), and a u–glide in diphthongs (how, allow, dew, review). It is silent before r (wrist, write, wrong), and is often lost internally (two, sword, answer). ♦ The combination wh– (in Old English spelled hw–) is pronounced in this dictionary as (hw); many educated speakers of English, however, use simple (w) instead, and this pronunciation should be inferred as an acceptable variant in every case. Some speakers normally use still a third sound here, a voiceless allophone of (w) heard also after voiceless consonants, as in sweet, twin, etc. See ALPHABET.
—symbol
1. Chem. Tungsten (symbol W, for wolfram).
2. Electr. Watt.