Etymologically
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whoa

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Pronunciation

  • /woʊ/, /ʍoʊ/[1]
  • UK: /wəʊ/, /ʍəʊ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English who, a variant of the interjection ho;[2][3][4] the OED, revising the entry in 2016, takes it as a variant of one of its two interjections ho, the call to stop or the cry for attention.[5] The spelling whoa is not recorded before the middle of the 19th century.[6] Etymonline separates a 17th-century whoa, a variant of who used as a call from a distance, from the command to a horse, which it takes as a variant of ho.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A command to stop: c. 1467, when King Edward IV, watching a fight, threw down his staff and cried "Whoo".[5][8] Weekley doubts that the call was first used to horses.[8]

Semantic evolution

As a command to a horse or other draught animal to stop or stand still, the word is the opposite of gee.[5][8][3] From the late 17th century it was joined to other calls, sometimes to turn a horse, as in whoa ho.[5] The general cry of surprise or of being impressed is recorded from 1891,[5] and Etymonline notes that in this use it gradually took the place of wow from the 1980s.[7] The verb, to call whoa to a horse, dates from 1838.[5] In Dumfriesshire, Wright's dialect dictionary records whoa as a sound with which a speaker in a hurry begins an answer.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 1467 – a command to stop, cried by Edward IV.[5][8]
  • 1620s – a call from a distance (Etymonline).[7]
  • 1675 – combined with other calls, such as whoa ho.[5]
  • 1817 – as a noun, a cry of whoa.[5]
  • 1838 – the verb, to call whoa to a horse.[5]
  • 1891 – an interjection of surprise or interest.[5]

Modern meaning

Interjection

  1. A command to a horse or other draught animal to stop or stand still.
  2. A call to a person to stop, slow down or think again: Whoa, not so fast, we haven't signed anything yet.
  3. An exclamation of surprise, alarm or admiration.

Verb

  1. To call whoa to an animal, or to stop it in this way.

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c d Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)