W, or w, is the twenty-second letter of our alphabet; and is composed, as its name implies, of two v's. It is not in use among the Hebrews, Greeks, or Romans, but chiefly among the northern nations, the Teutones, Saxons, Britons, &c. It is not employed by the French, Italians, Spaniards, or Portuguese, except in proper names, and other terms borrowed from languages in which it is originally used, and even then it is sounded like the single v. This letter is of an ambiguous nature; being a consonant at the beginning of words, and a vowel at the end. It may stand before all the vowels except u; as water, wedge, never, wonder: it may also follow the vowels a, e, o, and unite with them into a kind of double vowel, or diphthong; as isaw, few, cow. It also goes before r, and follows s and th; in scrath, scear, thwart: it goes before h also, though in reality it is sounded after it; as in when, what. In some words it is obscure, as in shadow, widow.