Where does “wawa” come from?

wawa (Tagalog) comes from Tagalog kawawa, from Tagalog kaawa-awa, from Tagalog Ka-, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian ka-, from Proto-Austronesian ka- — inchoative.

wawa (Tagalog): river mouth; delta; meaning; the real sense of,...

Definitions

  1. river mouth; delta; meaning; the real sense of,...

Ancestry of “wawa”, step by step

wawa traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Tagalog kawawa

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Tagalogkawawasad; miserable; pathetic; wretched
2Tagalogkaawa-awapitiful; pitiable
3TagalogKa-implies companionship or partnership
4Proto-Malayo-Polynesianka-marker of past time in temporal expressions
5Proto-Austronesianka-inchoative

via Proto-Austronesian waqwaq

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Proto-Austronesianwaqwaq—
2Arabicوَقْوَقَ—

Words derived from “wawa”

Every word from Proto-Austronesian ka- →