woo
/wuː/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.87 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
2
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
Often of a man, to try to persuade (someone) to be in an amorous relationship with.
Transitive verb
adj
Alternative form of woo woo.
noun
Alternative form of woo woo (“esoteric, pseudoscientific phenomena”).
Example Sentences
- "They're trying to woo the customers back with this new mobile plan."
- "Behind this carefully crafted strategy of wooing Trump is a desire from Gulf states to solidify and formalize their positions as the US’ indispensable security and economic partners, and extract as much benefit for themselves as they can."
- "He [Mark Zuckerberg] wanted to start an AI unit at Facebook, and to woo [Yann] LeCun [he] invited him over for dinner at his California home. A private chef prepared “chicken with some pretty good white wine”, LeCun recalls."
- "Soo leue we syr Launcelot lyenge within that caue in grete payne / and euery day ther came a lady & brouȝt hym his mete & his drynke / & wowed hym to haue layne by hym / and euer the noble knyghte syre Launcelot sayd her nay. "So leave we Sir Launcelot lying within that cave in great pain; and every day there came a lady and brought him his meat and his drink, and wooed him, to have lain by him; and ever the noble knight, Sir Launcelot, said her nay.""
- "I haue beene wooed, as I intreat thee now, / Euen by the ſterne, and direfull God of warre, / VVhoſe ſinowie necke in battel nere did bow, / VVho conquers where he comes in euery iarre; […]"
- "Each, like the Grecian artist, wooes / The image he himself has wrought."
Etymology
From Middle English wowen, woȝen, from Old English wōgian (“to woo, court, marry”), of uncertain origin. Cognate with Scots wow (“to woo”). Perhaps related to Old English wōg, wōh (“bending, crookedness”), in the specific sense of "bend or incline (some)one toward oneself". If so, then derived from Proto-Germanic *wanhō (“a bend, angle”), from Proto-Indo-European *wonk- (“crooked, bent”), from Proto-Indo-European *wā- (“to bend, twist, turn”); related to Old Norse vá (“corner, angle”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
Inflected Forms
woos (present, singular)
wooing (participle, present)
wooed (participle, past)
wooed (past)
wo (alternative)
wow (alternative)
wowe (alternative)
more woo (comparative)
most woo (superlative)
Woos (plural)
Wu (alternative)
Ou (alternative)