Wow-Wow
/ˈwaʊ ˌwaʊ/noun
A child’s or imitative term for a dog or a dog’s bark.
Did you know?“Wow-wow” belongs to a long tradition of imitative speech, sometimes called the bow-wow theory: the idea that certain human words originated by echoing animal sounds.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient and Medieval tradition
Various
animal-call reduplication
“Humans imitated animal sounds using repeated syllables; this is a recurring pattern rather than a traceable inherited root.”
18th Century
English
wow-wow
“A reduplicated imitation of a dog’s bark or a child’s word for a dog.”
19th Century
English
wow-wow
“Recorded in English dictionaries as a childish or imitative term for a dog.”
Modern English
English
wow-wow
“A rare, playful term associated with a dog or its bark; unrelated etymologically to modern “wow” meaning amazement.”