How do you spell the sound you make when seeing something cute? (2025)

How do you spell the noise one makes when they see something cute or hear a touching story?

When you see two cuddling puppies or hear a story of a cancer survivor and his wife who's stayed his side all along?

It sounds like "ah-uh", but never seen it spelled out in writing.

Our dictionary does too, with fewer 'w's.

2. (used to express sentimental or sugary approval.)​

Lexico allows for one or two w's: Aw | Meaning of Aw by Lexico

My sense is that this is American. I don't think I'd use the /ɔː/ vowel.

Surprisingly, the OED defines it as 'An exclamation usually expressing mild remonstrance, entreaty, commiseration, disgust, or disapproval' with examples like 'Aw! Shucks, forget it'.

Doesn't it usualy have "h" sound at the front, like "hawwww"? and how do you express the nasal sound at the end?

I would've put it "hawww~" (from my culture), but "~" doesn't seem to be used very much.

nagomi said:

Doesn't it usualy have "h" sound at the front, like "hawwww"?

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No, we (in BE) put the 'h' at the end, and then don't pronounce it: aah, aaah, aaahh etc . . .

In my part of the world (northwest England) it's generally ehhhhhh* ~ like a very elongated pronunciation of the word air [without an /r/].
But yes, I think aaahhhh is the standard noise in English English ~ a very elongated pronunciation of the word are [without the /r/].

*And yes, it has to have precisely five h's

nagomi said:

Doesn't it usualy have "h" sound at the front, like "hawwww"? and how do you express the nasal sound at the end?

I would've put it "hawww~" (from my culture), but "~" doesn't seem to be used very much.

Click to expand...

In the parts of the US where I have lived, it's awwww with no -h- at the beginning.

nagomi said:

Doesn't it usualy have "h" sound at the front, like "hawwww"? and how do you express the nasal sound at the end?

I would've put it "hawww~" (from my culture), but "~" doesn't seem to be used very much.

Click to expand...

Definitely not. These interjections usually start with a vowel, and there’s a variety of options
Aw is one I use for nice things.
Aww is common too.
Oh (with one or more “h”s.) is an option as well.

And with a picture of cuddling puppies, some of us might also say 'Oh dear! Yuck!'

ewie said:

But yes, I think aaahhhh is the standard noise in English English ~ a very elongated pronunciation of the word are [without the /r/].

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Yes, that's the noise I make. Which is why 'aw' doesn't work for me.

Awwww is very standard American in my experience. It rhymes with paw and saw.

It's pronounced differently than the "aw" in "aw, shucks", which is short and not drawn out at all.

kentix said:

Awwww is very standard American in my experience. It rhymes with paw and saw.

It's pronounced differently than the "aw" in "aw, shucks", which is short and not drawn out at all.

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Upon reflection, mine is somewhere between ahhh and awww

Some English teachers of American English, whom I heard on YouTube, call one vowel sound in English "cute baby sound". But it's not AW that they were referring to, in fact it's AH, like in hot.

AW is more like a sound of surprise to me, which you make when you find a 10-dollar bill on a sidewalk. (I mean the AW sound in BrE. Actually it's hard to say what sound people have in mind when they spell AH or AW, because they might pronounce them very differently.)