"whoa" meaning in English

See whoa in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Interjection

IPA: /wəʊ/ [UK], /ʍəʊ/ [UK], /woʊ/ [US], /ʍoʊ/ [US] Audio: en-us-whoa.ogg [US]
enPR: wō Rhymes: -əʊ 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!”). Etymology templates: {{inh|en|enm|ho}} Middle English ho, {{m|enm|hoo||pos=interjection}} hoo (interjection), {{der|en|non|hó!|pos=interjection, also, a shepherd's call}} Old Norse hó! (interjection, also, a shepherd's call), {{cog|de|ho}} German ho, {{cog|fro|ho !||hold!, halt!}} Old French ho ! (“hold!, halt!”) Head templates: {{en-interj}} whoa
  1. Stop (especially when commanding a horse or imitative thereof); calm down; slow down. Translations (slow down): langsam (German), वाह (vāh) (Hindi), hoi (Malay), so (Spanish), sakta i backarna (Swedish) Translations (stop, said to a horse): ⁧قِف⁩ (qif) [masculine] (Arabic), ⁧قِفِي⁩ (qifī) [feminine] (Arabic), xo (Catalan), (yū) (Chinese Mandarin), pru (Esperanto), tpr (Esperanto), ptruu (Finnish), ho (French), holà (French), stop (French), xo (Galician), ou (english: to cattle) (Galician), brr (German), oha (German), वाह (vāh) (Hindi), (Hungarian), tprr (Ingrian), どう () (Japanese), どうどう (dōdō) (Japanese), ōhē (Latin), hoi (Malay), ptro (Norwegian), prr (Polish), pru (Polish), alto! (Portuguese), ou! (Portuguese), тпру (tpru) (Russian), пру (pru) (Russian), стоп (stop) (Russian), so (Spanish), ptrr (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-whoa-en-intj-NaGWPUFt Categories (other): English terms with collocations Disambiguation of 'slow down': 95 3 2 Disambiguation of 'stop, said to a horse': 92 4 4
  2. An expression of surprise. Translations (expression of surprise): oho (Finnish), ouah (French), boah (German), boa (German), oha (German), öha [dialectal] (German), eha [dialectal] (German), वाह (vāh) (Hindi), hoi (Malay), hika mā! (Maori), nossa! (Portuguese), ого (ogo) (Russian), guau (Spanish), híjole (Spanish), oj då (Swedish), oha (Turkish)
    Sense id: en-whoa-en-intj-x~m0pbVV Disambiguation of 'expression of surprise': 3 94 3
  3. Used as a meaningless filler in song lyrics.
    Sense id: en-whoa-en-intj-EQs06pP2
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: woah, whoah Derived forms: whoa back, Nelly

Verb

IPA: /wəʊ/ [UK], /ʍəʊ/ [UK], /woʊ/ [US], /ʍoʊ/ [US] Audio: en-us-whoa.ogg [US] Forms: whoas [present, singular, third-person], whoaing [participle, present], whoaed [participle, past], whoaed [past]
enPR: wō Rhymes: -əʊ 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!”). Etymology templates: {{inh|en|enm|ho}} Middle English ho, {{m|enm|hoo||pos=interjection}} hoo (interjection), {{der|en|non|hó!|pos=interjection, also, a shepherd's call}} Old Norse hó! (interjection, also, a shepherd's call), {{cog|de|ho}} German ho, {{cog|fro|ho !||hold!, halt!}} Old French ho ! (“hold!, halt!”) Head templates: {{en-verb}} whoa (third-person singular simple present whoas, present participle whoaing, simple past and past participle whoaed)
  1. (transitive) To attempt to slow (an animal) by crying "whoa". Tags: transitive
    Sense id: en-whoa-en-verb-ngBDajvW
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: woah, whoah

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for whoa meaning in English (11.8kB)

{
  "antonyms": [
    {
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "word": "giddyup"
    },
    {
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "word": "giddap"
    }
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "whoa back"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "Nelly"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "ho"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English ho",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "hoo",
        "3": "",
        "pos": "interjection"
      },
      "expansion": "hoo (interjection)",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "non",
        "3": "hó!",
        "pos": "interjection, also, a shepherd's call"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Norse hó! (interjection, also, a shepherd's call)",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "de",
        "2": "ho"
      },
      "expansion": "German ho",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fro",
        "2": "ho !",
        "3": "",
        "4": "hold!, halt!"
      },
      "expansion": "Old French ho ! (“hold!, halt!”)",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "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!”).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "whoa",
      "name": "en-interj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "intj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with collocations",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with collocations",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Whoa, Nelly!"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Ron Liebman, Death by Rodrigo, New York: Simon & Schuster, page 134",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Stop (especially when commanding a horse or imitative thereof); calm down; slow down."
      ],
      "id": "en-whoa-en-intj-NaGWPUFt",
      "links": [
        [
          "Stop",
          "stop"
        ],
        [
          "command",
          "command"
        ],
        [
          "horse",
          "horse"
        ],
        [
          "calm down",
          "calm down"
        ],
        [
          "slow down",
          "slow down"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "92 4 4",
          "code": "ar",
          "lang": "Arabic",
          "roman": "qif",
          "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "⁧قِف⁩"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 4 4",
          "code": "ar",
          "lang": "Arabic",
          "roman": "qifī",
          "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "⁧قِفِي⁩"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 4 4",
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
          "word": "xo"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 4 4",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "yū",
          "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
          "word": "吁"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 4 4",
          "code": "eo",
          "lang": "Esperanto",
          "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
          "word": "pru"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 4 4",
          "code": "eo",
          "lang": "Esperanto",
          "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
          "word": "tpr"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 4 4",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
          "word": "ptruu"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 4 4",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
          "word": "ho"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 4 4",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
          "word": "holà"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 4 4",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
          "word": "stop"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 4 4",
          "code": "gl",
          "lang": "Galician",
          "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
          "word": "xo"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 4 4",
          "code": "gl",
          "english": "to cattle",
          "lang": "Galician",
          "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
          "word": "ou"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 4 4",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
          "word": "brr"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 4 4",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
          "word": "oha"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 4 4",
          "code": "hi",
          "lang": "Hindi",
          "roman": "vāh",
          "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
          "word": "वाह"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 4 4",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
          "word": "hó"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 4 4",
          "code": "izh",
          "lang": "Ingrian",
          "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
          "word": "tprr"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 4 4",
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "dō",
          "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
          "word": "どう"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 4 4",
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "dōdō",
          "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
          "word": "どうどう"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 4 4",
          "code": "la",
          "lang": "Latin",
          "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
          "word": "ōhē"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 4 4",
          "code": "ms",
          "lang": "Malay",
          "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
          "word": "hoi"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 4 4",
          "code": "no",
          "lang": "Norwegian",
          "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
          "word": "ptro"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 4 4",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
          "word": "prr"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 4 4",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
          "word": "pru"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 4 4",
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
          "word": "alto!"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 4 4",
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
          "word": "ou!"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 4 4",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "tpru",
          "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
          "word": "тпру"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 4 4",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "pru",
          "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
          "word": "пру"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 4 4",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "stop",
          "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
          "word": "стоп"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 4 4",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
          "word": "so"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "92 4 4",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
          "word": "ptrr"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "95 3 2",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "slow down",
          "word": "langsam"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "95 3 2",
          "code": "hi",
          "lang": "Hindi",
          "roman": "vāh",
          "sense": "slow down",
          "word": "वाह"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "95 3 2",
          "code": "ms",
          "lang": "Malay",
          "sense": "slow down",
          "word": "hoi"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "95 3 2",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "slow down",
          "word": "so"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "95 3 2",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "slow down",
          "word": "sakta i backarna"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Whoa, are you serious?",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1985, Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale, Back to the Future, spoken by Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox)",
          "text": "Whoa. Wait a minute, Doc. Are you trying to tell me that my mother has got the hots for me?",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "September 28 2007, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, season 2, episode 6",
          "text": "Jen: Douglas has asked me to be his PA.\nMoss: Oh. My. God! Well, that is something and a half. His PA? How... Whoa! His PA... Shut up! His PA!\nJen: It means \"personal assistant\".\nMoss: Thank you. Right, OK.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An expression of surprise."
      ],
      "id": "en-whoa-en-intj-x~m0pbVV",
      "links": [
        [
          "surprise",
          "surprise#English"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "3 94 3",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "expression of surprise",
          "word": "oho"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "3 94 3",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "expression of surprise",
          "word": "ouah"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "3 94 3",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "expression of surprise",
          "word": "boah"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "3 94 3",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "expression of surprise",
          "word": "boa"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "3 94 3",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "expression of surprise",
          "word": "oha"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "3 94 3",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "expression of surprise",
          "tags": [
            "dialectal"
          ],
          "word": "öha"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "3 94 3",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "expression of surprise",
          "tags": [
            "dialectal"
          ],
          "word": "eha"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "3 94 3",
          "code": "hi",
          "lang": "Hindi",
          "roman": "vāh",
          "sense": "expression of surprise",
          "word": "वाह"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "3 94 3",
          "code": "ms",
          "lang": "Malay",
          "sense": "expression of surprise",
          "word": "hoi"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "3 94 3",
          "code": "mi",
          "lang": "Maori",
          "sense": "expression of surprise",
          "word": "hika mā!"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "3 94 3",
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "expression of surprise",
          "word": "nossa!"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "3 94 3",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "ogo",
          "sense": "expression of surprise",
          "word": "ого"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "3 94 3",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "expression of surprise",
          "word": "guau"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "3 94 3",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "expression of surprise",
          "word": "híjole"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "3 94 3",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "expression of surprise",
          "word": "oj då"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "3 94 3",
          "code": "tr",
          "lang": "Turkish",
          "sense": "expression of surprise",
          "word": "oha"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2003, \"Weird Al\" Yankovic, eBay (song)",
          "text": "I am the type who is liable to snipe you\nWith two seconds left to go, whoa."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, Bruce Springsteen, It's a Shame",
          "text": "And oh whoa girl, it's a shame.\nOh whoa girl, it's a doggone shame.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used as a meaningless filler in song lyrics."
      ],
      "id": "en-whoa-en-intj-EQs06pP2"
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/wəʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ʍəʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/woʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ʍoʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-əʊ"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "woe (in accents with the wine-whine merger)"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-whoa.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/f/ff/En-us-whoa.ogg/En-us-whoa.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/En-us-whoa.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (US)"
    },
    {
      "enpr": "wō"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0",
      "word": "woah"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0",
      "word": "whoah"
    }
  ],
  "word": "whoa"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "ho"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English ho",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "hoo",
        "3": "",
        "pos": "interjection"
      },
      "expansion": "hoo (interjection)",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "non",
        "3": "hó!",
        "pos": "interjection, also, a shepherd's call"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Norse hó! (interjection, also, a shepherd's call)",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "de",
        "2": "ho"
      },
      "expansion": "German ho",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fro",
        "2": "ho !",
        "3": "",
        "4": "hold!, halt!"
      },
      "expansion": "Old French ho ! (“hold!, halt!”)",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "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!”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "whoas",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "whoaing",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "whoaed",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "whoaed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "whoa (third-person singular simple present whoas, present participle whoaing, simple past and past participle whoaed)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1926, Josephine Demott Robinson, The Circus Lady, page 38",
          "text": "He was whoaing the horses loudly, and they did seem to be going faster than usual—in fact, they were galloping.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To attempt to slow (an animal) by crying \"whoa\"."
      ],
      "id": "en-whoa-en-verb-ngBDajvW",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To attempt to slow (an animal) by crying \"whoa\"."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/wəʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ʍəʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/woʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ʍoʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-əʊ"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "woe (in accents with the wine-whine merger)"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-whoa.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/f/ff/En-us-whoa.ogg/En-us-whoa.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/En-us-whoa.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (US)"
    },
    {
      "enpr": "wō"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0",
      "word": "woah"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0",
      "word": "whoah"
    }
  ],
  "word": "whoa"
}
{
  "antonyms": [
    {
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "word": "giddyup"
    },
    {
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "word": "giddap"
    }
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "whoa back"
    },
    {
      "word": "Nelly"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "ho"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English ho",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "hoo",
        "3": "",
        "pos": "interjection"
      },
      "expansion": "hoo (interjection)",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "non",
        "3": "hó!",
        "pos": "interjection, also, a shepherd's call"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Norse hó! (interjection, also, a shepherd's call)",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "de",
        "2": "ho"
      },
      "expansion": "German ho",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fro",
        "2": "ho !",
        "3": "",
        "4": "hold!, halt!"
      },
      "expansion": "Old French ho ! (“hold!, halt!”)",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "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!”).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "whoa",
      "name": "en-interj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "intj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with collocations",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Whoa, Nelly!"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Ron Liebman, Death by Rodrigo, New York: Simon & Schuster, page 134",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Stop (especially when commanding a horse or imitative thereof); calm down; slow down."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Stop",
          "stop"
        ],
        [
          "command",
          "command"
        ],
        [
          "horse",
          "horse"
        ],
        [
          "calm down",
          "calm down"
        ],
        [
          "slow down",
          "slow down"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Whoa, are you serious?",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1985, Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale, Back to the Future, spoken by Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox)",
          "text": "Whoa. Wait a minute, Doc. Are you trying to tell me that my mother has got the hots for me?",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "September 28 2007, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, season 2, episode 6",
          "text": "Jen: Douglas has asked me to be his PA.\nMoss: Oh. My. God! Well, that is something and a half. His PA? How... Whoa! His PA... Shut up! His PA!\nJen: It means \"personal assistant\".\nMoss: Thank you. Right, OK.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An expression of surprise."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "surprise",
          "surprise#English"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2003, \"Weird Al\" Yankovic, eBay (song)",
          "text": "I am the type who is liable to snipe you\nWith two seconds left to go, whoa."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, Bruce Springsteen, It's a Shame",
          "text": "And oh whoa girl, it's a shame.\nOh whoa girl, it's a doggone shame.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used as a meaningless filler in song lyrics."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/wəʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ʍəʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/woʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ʍoʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-əʊ"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "woe (in accents with the wine-whine merger)"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-whoa.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/f/ff/En-us-whoa.ogg/En-us-whoa.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/En-us-whoa.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (US)"
    },
    {
      "enpr": "wō"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "woah"
    },
    {
      "word": "whoah"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "ar",
      "lang": "Arabic",
      "roman": "qif",
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "⁧قِف⁩"
    },
    {
      "code": "ar",
      "lang": "Arabic",
      "roman": "qifī",
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "⁧قِفِي⁩"
    },
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "word": "xo"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "yū",
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "word": "吁"
    },
    {
      "code": "eo",
      "lang": "Esperanto",
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "word": "pru"
    },
    {
      "code": "eo",
      "lang": "Esperanto",
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "word": "tpr"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "word": "ptruu"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "word": "ho"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "word": "holà"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "word": "stop"
    },
    {
      "code": "gl",
      "lang": "Galician",
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "word": "xo"
    },
    {
      "code": "gl",
      "english": "to cattle",
      "lang": "Galician",
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "word": "ou"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "word": "brr"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "word": "oha"
    },
    {
      "code": "hi",
      "lang": "Hindi",
      "roman": "vāh",
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "word": "वाह"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "word": "hó"
    },
    {
      "code": "izh",
      "lang": "Ingrian",
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "word": "tprr"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "dō",
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "word": "どう"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "dōdō",
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "word": "どうどう"
    },
    {
      "code": "la",
      "lang": "Latin",
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "word": "ōhē"
    },
    {
      "code": "ms",
      "lang": "Malay",
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "word": "hoi"
    },
    {
      "code": "no",
      "lang": "Norwegian",
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "word": "ptro"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "word": "prr"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "word": "pru"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "word": "alto!"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "word": "ou!"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "tpru",
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "word": "тпру"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "pru",
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "word": "пру"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "stop",
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "word": "стоп"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "word": "so"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "stop, said to a horse",
      "word": "ptrr"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "slow down",
      "word": "langsam"
    },
    {
      "code": "hi",
      "lang": "Hindi",
      "roman": "vāh",
      "sense": "slow down",
      "word": "वाह"
    },
    {
      "code": "ms",
      "lang": "Malay",
      "sense": "slow down",
      "word": "hoi"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "slow down",
      "word": "so"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "slow down",
      "word": "sakta i backarna"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "expression of surprise",
      "word": "oho"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "expression of surprise",
      "word": "ouah"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "expression of surprise",
      "word": "boah"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "expression of surprise",
      "word": "boa"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "expression of surprise",
      "word": "oha"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "expression of surprise",
      "tags": [
        "dialectal"
      ],
      "word": "öha"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "expression of surprise",
      "tags": [
        "dialectal"
      ],
      "word": "eha"
    },
    {
      "code": "hi",
      "lang": "Hindi",
      "roman": "vāh",
      "sense": "expression of surprise",
      "word": "वाह"
    },
    {
      "code": "ms",
      "lang": "Malay",
      "sense": "expression of surprise",
      "word": "hoi"
    },
    {
      "code": "mi",
      "lang": "Maori",
      "sense": "expression of surprise",
      "word": "hika mā!"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "expression of surprise",
      "word": "nossa!"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "ogo",
      "sense": "expression of surprise",
      "word": "ого"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "expression of surprise",
      "word": "guau"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "expression of surprise",
      "word": "híjole"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "expression of surprise",
      "word": "oj då"
    },
    {
      "code": "tr",
      "lang": "Turkish",
      "sense": "expression of surprise",
      "word": "oha"
    }
  ],
  "word": "whoa"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "ho"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English ho",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "hoo",
        "3": "",
        "pos": "interjection"
      },
      "expansion": "hoo (interjection)",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "non",
        "3": "hó!",
        "pos": "interjection, also, a shepherd's call"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Norse hó! (interjection, also, a shepherd's call)",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "de",
        "2": "ho"
      },
      "expansion": "German ho",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fro",
        "2": "ho !",
        "3": "",
        "4": "hold!, halt!"
      },
      "expansion": "Old French ho ! (“hold!, halt!”)",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "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!”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "whoas",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "whoaing",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "whoaed",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "whoaed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "whoa (third-person singular simple present whoas, present participle whoaing, simple past and past participle whoaed)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English transitive verbs",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1926, Josephine Demott Robinson, The Circus Lady, page 38",
          "text": "He was whoaing the horses loudly, and they did seem to be going faster than usual—in fact, they were galloping.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To attempt to slow (an animal) by crying \"whoa\"."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To attempt to slow (an animal) by crying \"whoa\"."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/wəʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ʍəʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/woʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ʍoʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-əʊ"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "woe (in accents with the wine-whine merger)"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-whoa.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/f/ff/En-us-whoa.ogg/En-us-whoa.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/En-us-whoa.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (US)"
    },
    {
      "enpr": "wō"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "woah"
    },
    {
      "word": "whoah"
    }
  ],
  "word": "whoa"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-03-12 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-03-01 using wiktextract (68773ab and 5f6ddbb). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.