woo
/wuː/
woo verb: to endeavor to gain someone's affection or support. Also the alternative spelling of whoo.
Verb
woo (third-person singular simple present woos, present participle wooing, simple past and past participle wooed)
- To endeavor to gain someone's affection or support.
- They're trying to woo the customers back with this new mobile plan.
- Behind this carefully crafted strategy of wooing Trump is a desire from Gulf states to solidify and formalize their positions as the US’ indispensable security and economic partners, and extract as much benefit for themselves as they can.2025 May 11, Nadeen Ebrahim and Abbas Al Lawati, “Trump is visiting three of the world’s richest nations. Here’s what’s on their wish list”, in CNN, archived from the original on 12 Jul 2025
- Often of a man, to try to persuade (someone) to be in an amorous relationship with.
- Soo leue we syr Launcelot lyenge within that caue in grete payne / and euery day ther came a lady & brouȝt hym his mete & his drynke / & wowed hym to haue layne by hym / and euer the noble knyghte syre Launcelot sayd her nay.
"So leave we Sir Launcelot lying within that cave in great pain; and...1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur Book XIX, Chapter viii, leaf 393v - I haue beene wooed, as I intreat thee now, / Euen by the ſterne, and direfull God of warre, / VVhoſe ſinowie necke in battel nere did bow, / VVho conquers where he comes in euery iarre; […]1594, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC, [verse 17], lines [97–100]
- Soo leue we syr Launcelot lyenge within that caue in grete payne / and euery day ther came a lady & brouȝt hym his mete & his drynke / & wowed hym to haue layne by hym / and euer the noble knyghte syre Launcelot sayd her nay.
- To court solicitously; to invite with importunity; to solicit in love.
- Thee Chauntreſs oft the Woods among, / I woo to hear thy eeven Song;a. 1645, John Milton, “Il Penseroso”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, page 39
- I woo the wind / That still delays his coming.a. 1850, William Cullen Bryant, Summer Wind
- Synonyms:
- court
Proper noun (1) capitalized: Woo
Woo (plural Woos)
- A surname from Chinese.
Proper noun (2) capitalized: Woo
Woo (plural Woos)
- A surname from Korean.
Also used as
woo is also the alternative spelling of whoo.
woo is also the alternative form of woo woo.
woo meaning in Arabic
woo in Arabic
- to endeavor to gain someone's affection/support
- تَوَدَّدَ tawaddada
Examples of woo in a sentence
- He [Mark Zuckerberg] wanted to start an AI unit at Facebook, and to woo [Yann] LeCun [he] invited him over for dinner at his California home.2026 January 3, Melissa Heikkilä, “Lunch with the FT: Yann LeCun”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd....
- Each, like the Grecian artist, wooes / The image he himself has wrought.1718, Matthew Prior, epistle to Charles Montagu.:
- You woo me, you court me / You tease me, you please me / You school me, give me some things to think about / Ignite me, you invite me2000, Jill Scott, “He Loves Me (Lyzel in E Flat)”, in Who Is Jill Scott?: Words and Sounds Vol. 1:
Synonyms of woo
- court
- address
- beau
- bedear
- chase after
- endear
- make a move (on)
- put the moves on
- romance
- solicit
Forms of woo
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | woos |
| present participle | wooing |
| past participle | wooed |
| past | wooed |
| alternative form | wo |
| alternative form | wow |
| alternative form | wowe |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more woo |
| superlative | most woo |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Woos |
| alternative form | Wu |
| alternative form | Ou |
| alternative form | U |
| alternative form | Wo |
Origin of woo
From Middle English wowen, woȝen, from Old English wōgian (“to woo, court, marry”), of uncertain origin. Cognate with Scots wow (“to woo”). Perhaps related to Old English wōg, wōh (“bending, crookedness”), in the specific sense of "bend or incline (some)one toward oneself". If so, then derived from Proto-Germanic *wanhō (“a bend, angle”), from Proto-Indo-European *wonk- (“crooked, bent”), from Proto-Indo-European *wā- (“to bend, twist, turn”); related to Old Norse vá (“corner, angle”).
From an irregular romanization of various Mandarin Chinese surnames including 吳／吴 (Wú), 伍 (Wǔ), 武 (Wǔ), and 巫 (Wū), or from Cantonese 胡 (wu4).
From Korean 우 (u). * (surname): from Korean 禹, 于
Words formed from woo
- woo girl
- woo-monger
- go woo
- pitch woo
- wooer
Phrases with woo
Words that rhyme with woo
Questions about woo
- What does woo mean?
- Woo means to endeavor to gain someone's affection or support.
- What is woo in Arabic?
- Woo in Arabic is تَوَدَّدَ (tawaddada). See Woo meaning in Arabic.
- How do you use woo in a sentence?
- He [Mark Zuckerberg] wanted to start an AI unit at Facebook, and to woo [Yann] LeCun [he] invited him over for dinner at his California home.
- What part of speech is woo?
- Woo can be a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce woo?
- Woo is pronounced /wuː/.
- What is the past tense of woo?
- The past tense of woo is wooed.
Words near woo in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: woo (page history and authors); Woo (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-woo.ogg.
Cite this entry: “woo.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/woo. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.