Waw (letter)

This is about the letter found in some Semitic alphabets. For other uses of "Waw" see WAW.

Vav or waw is the sixth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic in abjadi order; it is the twenty-seventh in modern Arabic order. The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek digamma ( Ϝ, whose name in Greek was probably Ϝαυ) and upsilon ( Υ), which in turn gave rise to the Latin F, V, and Y; V later developed into U and W.

The Hebrew name of the letter - "Vav" - means a hook - and hence its pictorial as well as modern shape.

Vav has the numerical value six in enumerations (even in Arabic).

In gematria, Vaw represents the number six. Its script is a vertical line and resembles a person standing.

External link

• The Mystical Significance of the Hebrew Letters: Vav
• The famous discussion about how to spell W with vav – in Hebrew