I know that in Japanese, text messaging the letter “w” is short for warau
(笑う), which means “to laugh".

I'm curious if it has any relation to how the "w" could look like a laughing
mouth in an emoticon like "^w^". I've had a friend from Japan use that emoji
with me, so I'm wondering about "w"'s etymology.
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2021-11-20T19:55:58.257
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question
etymology
Does the "w" to mean laugh in Japanese have any relation with how the "w" could look like a laughing part of an emoji like "^w^"?
I don't think so. My Japanese friend Miko said it was usually "ww" and not
"w".
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2021-11-20T22:23:46.257
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2021-11-20T22:23:46.257
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answer
`w` emerged and became popular spontaneously, so no one can tell what the
people who started using it were thinking. That said, I personally think the
resemblance to a laughing mouth was obvious (at least to those who had been
familiar with Japanese-style kaomoji like `^w^`), and it should not be
unrelated to why it gained popularity.

`ω` (Greek omega) is another popular symbol for laughing mouth in kaomoji (eg
`(･ω･)`), and it is sometimes used instead of `w` at the end of a sentence,
too.
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2021-11-21T00:47:05.290
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answer