ʍ

An inverted letter w.

• IPA

  (file)

ʍ

1. (IPA, officially prior to 1979) a voiceless labialized velar approximant, IPA^(key): [w̥].

   (IPA, superscript ⟨ꭩ⟩) voiceless or aspirated labialization, [ʍ]-fricated release of a plosive (such as ⟨kꭩ⟩ for [kʷʰ]), [ʍ]-coloring, or a weak, fleeting or epenthetic [ʍ].

2. (IPA, officially since 1979) a voiceless labialized velar fricative, IPA^(key): [xʷ].

This symbol is redundant in the IPA. It is defined as a labial-velar fricative, which if taken literally would mean [ɸ͡x], but which IPA president Peter Ladefoged thought would actually need to be [xʷ]. Historically its primary use has been for the English wh-sound, [w̥] or [hʷ]. ⟨ʍ⟩ is not frequently used for any language other than English, with a less ambiguous transcription such as ⟨w̥⟩, ⟨hʷ⟩ or ⟨xʷ⟩ being used instead.

• w