W
Abbreviation with 6 meanings
| Stands for | West |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 6 |
| Categories | Geography & Places, Units & Measurements, Medical, Science & Engineering, Texting & Internet Slang |
| Also written | w/ |
W has six meanings. The most common are West (direction) and Watt (engineering unit); it can also stand for With, Wednesday (schedule code), Tungsten and Win.
Meanings of W at a glance
| # | W stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | West | Geography & Places › Direction |
| 2 | Watt | Units & Measurements › Engineering Unit |
| 3 | With | Medical › Nursing |
| 4 | Wednesday (schedule code) | Units & Measurements › Day of the Week |
| 5 | Tungsten | Science & Engineering › Chemical Element |
| 6 | Win | Texting & Internet Slang › Gen Z Slang |
1. West
Geography & Places · Direction Abbreviations
Cardinal direction where the sun sets, at 270 degrees. As an address prefix, W marks streets west of a city's dividing line, as in W 57th St, which runs west of Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.
Example: Our studio is at 30 W 21st St, between Fifth and Sixth avenues.
W also means watt and tungsten (from its German name Wolfram), and win in sports standings. Westbound traffic is WB.
2. Watt
Units & Measurements · Engineering Unit Abbreviations
The SI unit of power, one joule per second, measuring how fast energy is used or produced. Light bulbs, appliances, chargers, speakers and solar panels are rated in watts; an LED bulb that replaces an old 60 W incandescent draws about 8 to 10 W.
Example: The USB-C charger delivers up to 65 W, enough for most laptops.
Named in honor of Scottish engineer James Watt, whose improved steam engine powered the Industrial Revolution. Electrical power equals volts times amps, so a 120 V circuit carrying 10 A delivers 1,200 W. A watt measures a rate, not an amount: energy used over time is counted in watt-hours or kilowatt-hours.
3. With (w/)
Medical · Nursing Abbreviations · also used in general use
Charting shorthand for "with", used throughout nursing notes, orders and handoffs to save space. It links findings, devices and levels of help, such as walking with a walker or wound care with saline.
Example: Ambulated 200 ft w/ FWW and CGA, no shortness of breath.
An older form is a c with a bar over it, from Latin cum. ISMP advises against slash marks in medication orders because a slash can be misread as the numeral 1, so "with" should be written out on prescriptions. In narrative notes w/ is widely accepted and appears on most facility-approved lists.
4. Wednesday (schedule code)
Units & Measurements · Day of the Week Abbreviations
One-letter code for Wednesday on course schedules, store-hours signs and weekly pill organizers. It forms the middle of the common MWF class pattern.
Example: Section 004 meets W 6:00 to 8:45 p.m. in Room 210.
Wednesday is the only English day beginning with W, so the code is unambiguous within a schedule. On maps and compass labels W means west, and on clothing labels it can denote women's sizing, so context matters. In iCalendar recurrence rules the code is WE.
5. Tungsten
Science & Engineering · Chemical Element Abbreviations
Tungsten (element 74) has the highest melting point of any metal, 3,422 °C, and a density close to gold's. That combination made it the filament of incandescent light bulbs, and tungsten carbide is the material of drill bits, saw tips and cutting tools; heavy tungsten alloys provide radiation shielding and counterweights.
Example: The TIG torch takes a 2% thoriated W electrode, ground to a point for DC welding.
The symbol W comes from wolfram, the element's name in German and many other languages, taken from the ore wolframite; the name loosely means "wolf's froth," because the ore "devoured" tin during smelting. The English name is Swedish tung sten, "heavy stone." Spanish brothers Juan José and Fausto Elhuyar first isolated the metal in 1783. IUPAC uses tungsten as the official English name.
6. Win
Texting & Internet Slang · Gen Z Slang Abbreviations · also used in sports
Calls something a success, good decision or positive outcome, as in "that's a W" or "huge W for the team." Common in Gen Z speech, texts and comments, often paired with L (loss).
Example: Free pizza in the break room? Massive W.
From sports scoreboards, where W and L record wins and losses. Phrases like "take the W" and "W rizz" spread through Twitter, TikTok and streaming culture in the late 2010s and 2020s. In other contexts W means west, watt or tungsten.
Related abbreviations
More direction abbreviations
- E – East
- EB – Eastbound
- ENE – East-northeast
- ESE – East-southeast
- GN – Grid north
- MN – Magnetic north
- N – North
- NB – Northbound
See all 23 direction abbreviations →
More engineering unit abbreviations
- A – Ampere
- AFUE – Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency
- Ah – Ampere-hour
- atm – Standard atmosphere
- AWG – American wire gauge
- bar – Bar
- bhp – Brake horsepower
- BTU – British thermal unit
See all 103 engineering unit abbreviations →
This entry is for general education and is not medical advice. Abbreviation use varies between institutions; always confirm in context.