whoa
/woʊ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.82 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
intj
Stop (especially when commanding a horse or imitative thereof); calm down; slow down.
intj
An expression of surprise.
intj
Used as a meaningless filler in song lyrics.
Example Sentences
- "Whoa, Nelly!"
- "The Negroes, having waited for the white people to go upstairs, began to come in. “Whoa now, just a minute,” said a club member, holding up his walking stick. “Just don’t start up them there stairs yet awhile.”"
- "I can see Mickie getting hot, I'm about to grab his arm, hold him back, say, Whoa, whoa, Mick, not here, it ain't worth it what happened inside just now."
- "Whoa, are you serious?"
- "Whoa. Wait a minute, Doc. Are you trying to tell me that my mother has got the hots for me?"
- "Jen: Douglas has asked me to be his PA. Moss: Oh. My. God! Well, that is something and a half. His PA? How... Whoa! His PA... Shut up! His PA! Jen: It means "personal assistant". Moss: Thank you. Right, OK."
Etymology
Whoa (c. 1843) is a variant of woa (c. 1840), itself a variant of wo (c. 1787), from who (c. 1450), ultimately from Middle English ho, hoo (interjection), probably from Old Norse hó! (interjection, also, a shepherd's call). Compare German ho, Old French ho ! (“hold!, halt!”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: ho, hó!
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /woʊ/
- British English: /wəʊ/