Description:

The modifier 'waw' was evidently borrowed from the English word 'wow' sometime during the late early or middle periods. It was first attested solely as an interjection and not considered good common, but ameliorated over time into a normal modifier of opinion. As an interjection, it expresses amazement or surprise, much as in English.. As a modifier, it means something like amazing, incredible or surprising. The term form 'wawn' means amazement or surprise in a noun context or to amaze or surprise as a skurun verb, with the surpriser as the ergative subject.

Compared to ropúwaj or ampux, which also deal with surprise, waw usually has more positive connotations and the focus is more on the mental state of amazement than on the unexpected nature.