wah-wah

American  

[wah-wah] / ˈwɑˌwɑ /

Or wa-wa

adjective

1. producing a muted, bawling sound like that of a trumpet with the hand moved momentarily over the bell.

   a wah-wah effect on a synthesizer; a guitar with a wah-wah pedal.

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noun

1. a sound or effect like the muted sound of a trumpet, especially in music.

2. an electronic device or attachment to produce such a sound, often used with an electric guitar.

wah-wah British  

/ ˈwɑːˌwɑː /

noun

1. the sound made by a trumpet, cornet, etc, when the bell is alternately covered and uncovered: much used in jazz

2. an electronic attachment for an electric guitar, etc, that simulates this effect

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Etymology

Origin of wah-wah

First recorded in 1925–30; imitative

Example Sentences

“Stay on That” is one of the slinkier numbers on the album, with rapidly strummed guitars and a wah-wah squawk that recalls Isaac Hayes’s “Theme From Shaft.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 17, 2026

Drawing from the canon of vintage rap, “Tranky Funky” gallops forward to the sound of congas, chunky piano chords, wah-wah guitars and a nod to Mobb Deep.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 31, 2024

When you step on the amp’s attached wah-wah pedal, it plays the guitarist Frank Jauernick’s recreation of the Hendrix version loud enough to shake your sternum.

From New York Times • Aug. 12, 2021

A 19-year-old Stevie Wonder performs “Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day” and takes a blistering clavinet solo through a wah-wah pedal, a preview of what would soon become one of the signature sounds of Wonder’s 1970s reign.

From Slate • Jul. 2, 2021

During my travels in the jungle of Borneo, few were the days in which I was not summoned to rise by the call of the wah-wah, well-nigh as reliable as an alarm clock.

From Through Central Borneo; an Account of Two Years' Travel in the Land of Head-Hunters Between the Years 1913 and 1917 by Lumholtz, Carl