Overview

Waw (Hebrew: vav, sometimes spelled waw or vau) is the sixth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Its modern printed form is a single vertical stroke (ו). Depending on context and historical stage, it can act as a consonant, indicate vowels in writing, serve as a grammatical prefix and carries the numeric value six in Hebrew gematria. For the Hebrew alphabet as a whole see Hebrew alphabet.

Form and pronunciation

In contemporary Israeli Hebrew the letter represents the consonant sound /v/. Historically and in several Semitic languages the corresponding phoneme was /w/. In abjad scripts like ancient Hebrew the same character could later be used as a mater lectionis — a letter written to represent a vowel sound — most commonly associated with the vowels /o/ and /u/ in later orthographies.

Writing roles and grammatical uses

Waw has several distinct orthographic and grammatical roles in Hebrew:

  • As a consonant: pronounced /v/ in Modern Hebrew, functioning in ordinary words (e.g., the first consonant of the word vav itself).
  • As a vowel indicator: in unpointed texts a waw can mark the vowels /o/ or /u/; in pointed (vocalized) texts diacritic combinations involving the letter clarify those vowels.
  • As a prefix: the letter serves as the coordinating conjunction "and" when attached to a word (often pronounced "ve-" or "u-" depending on phonological rules).
  • In Biblical Hebrew grammar: a prefixed waw (often called the "vav-consecutive" or "vav hahipuch") can change the verbal sequence or tense/aspect in narrative constructions.

The letter descends from an early Semitic pictograph, often interpreted as a hook or peg, and was adopted into the Phoenician alphabet as waw. That sign in turn influenced several Mediterranean alphabets: in Greek it produced the sign digamma (ϝ) used for /w/ in early Greek and later retained as a numeral; through intermediary scripts it contributed forms that developed into letters used for w, v or u sounds in other alphabets. The cognate letter appears in Arabic as waw (و) with similar functions.

Examples and notable facts

Common practical examples include its use as the conjunction in everyday Hebrew (e.g., ve-shalom, "and peace") and as a component in vowel spelling (words that contain an "o" or "u" sound often include a waw in traditional orthography). In Jewish mysticism and numerology the letter’s numeric value (6) has symbolic associations. Linguistically, vav illustrates how a single alphabetic sign can serve consonantal, vocalic and grammatical roles across centuries of language change.