what is dw in text?
(especially in text messages, on social media, etc.) don't worry.
The acronym “DW” is a great way to make a conversation a little less tense. We’ll tell you what it means and how to use it in your messages.
DW stands for “don’t worry.” It is used to tell someone to relax and stop worrying about something. It can be sent as a complete message on its own or paired with other phrases. For example, “dw about it” or “dw too much.”
It’s a widespread term in text messages and chat apps, such as WhatsApp and iMessage. You can also find it used in social media websites like Twitter and Instagram.
The initialism is written in the lowercase “dw” instead of the uppercase “DW.” It can also be written as “d/w” with a slash between the letters, similar to how “whatever” is written as “w/e”. However, this style is largely outdated.
The actual phrase “don’t worry” has been in use for a very long time. It was famously featured in the Bobby McFerrin song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” which topped the charts in 1988.
DW is part of the early group of internet acronyms that came into popular use in the 1990s and the 2000s. The first definition for it on Urban Dictionary dates back to 2003. Along with other slang terms like TBH and AFK, DW emerged in online chatrooms and early internet forums. It then gained even more popularity with the rise of instant messaging apps such as AOL Instant Messenger and Yahoo Messenger.
DW is a calming, reassuring acronym. It’s used to tell someone that they don’t need to worry about something. It can defuse a tense situation with someone in chat.
One of the most common uses of DW is to show that you’ve gotten a problem or situation taken care of. For example, if someone is concerned about the weather for an outdoor event tomorrow, you might say, “dw, I checked the weather earlier today, and the forecast was sunny.” In this context, DW gives someone assurance that you have a handle on things.
Alternatively, it can also be used to downplay the significance of something. For example, if someone is apprehensive about their outfit, you might say “dw” to tell them that it doesn’t really matter what they wear. In this use case, it’s a friendlier alternative to “IDC” or “I don’t care.”
Another use for the acronym DW can be found in online marriage or parenting forums. In that context, it stands for “dear wife” or “darling wife”—an online term of endearment for people to refer to their partner. It is often used alongside other family-based internet acronyms such as DH, DS, and DD, which refer to “dear husband,” “dear son,” and “dear daughter,” respectively.
While this usage is significantly less common than “don’t worry,” you might still run across it sometimes. It’s often found in stories or posts that reference someone’s spouse. For example, a user might post, “My DW recently repainted our master bedroom. It looks amazing!” It can also be used in a tongue-in-cheek, sarcastic way. If they’re actually very frustrated with their partner about something, they might use the additional “dear” to express that.
There are also some other niche uses of DW. It can be a shorthand for the popular British science-fiction show Doctor Who and its titular hero in movie and television circles. It is also the initials of a character in the adult animated show Archer.
To use DW, put it in place of where you’d otherwise say “don’t worry.” If you’re using it in a conversation or a social media post, make sure you use the lowercase “dw.” Because it’s such a casual slang term, avoid using it in formal or business communication.
Here are a few ways you can use DW in your messages:
Having no idea of what such terms mean can be quite frustrating. Well to start with, it’s obviously an abbreviation, just like so many other Internet slang such as malding and acronyms like LFG you come across now and then.
The letters D and W stand for ‘Don’t Worry.’ As you’d imagine, it is used online in the same way that the term ‘don’t worry’ is used in real life. If someone is panicking or is worried about something, you can type DW to tell them to calm down and take it easy.
Snapchat is home to some of the most difficult-to-understand Internet abbreviations. If you’ve encountered DW on the said app, rest assured that it means the same thing that we’ve mentioned above — don’t worry. And just like on other platforms, people tend to pair DW with other slang terms to better convey their message. For instance, they might say something like “DW be happy” or “DW too much.”
As you may already have guessed, DW stands for the same thing in text messages as it does on other online conversation platforms. What may differ is the way it’s written.
Some people may write it as dw or some may write it as Dw. Some people also have the habit of writing it as d/w with a slash between the two letters in their text messaging conversations. It’s the same way some people prefer to write the word without — w/o.
On social media too, DW stands for don’t worry. You can use it on any platform like Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, or others.
Many other such terms are also popular on social media. These include TBH, which stands for ‘to be honest,’ AFAIK which stands for ‘as far as I know,’ OMG which stands for oh my god, or TL;DR which stands for ‘too long; didn’t read’.
There’s no specific date that we can trace the term back to. However, we can definitely identify the time period when it started popping up on the Internet. The term DW supposedly started being used online during the 1990s.
Back then, online conversations would usually take place in chatrooms and that’s where the DW abbreviation was in use, along with other terms like TBH (to be honest) and AFK (away from keyboard). The first definition of the acronym (or should we say, initialism) in Urban Dictionary’s catalogues dates back to 2003.
Yes, indeed. DW isn’t only used for don’t worry. In the context of a married couples’ conversations, it could stand for dear wife or darling wife. The dear wife meaning is spotted a lot on online marriage or parenting forums.
Naturally then, just like dear wife, there are variations of it in the form of DH (dear husband), DD (dear daughter), and DS (dear son). But as we said, these meanings are almost always reserved for particular online forums.
Apart from dear wife, the initialism could also refer to Doctor Who, the popular British sci-fi TV show, or Distant Worlds, a strategy video game.
Given below is a list of different ways you can add the abbreviation in question to your sentences while chatting with someone to tell them to stop worrying:
“You’ll get well soon. DW.”
“I’ll do it for you, DW about it.”
The choice is yours; as long as the person at the other end of the chat is aware of the term’s meaning, you can use it however you like.
The term ‘don’t worry’ has been in use for a very long time but it definitely caught popularity in 1988 when the soulful song ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’ by Bobby McFerrin hit the charts.
The song’s words started being used by people in daily conversations to motivate those who were feeling down. The whistle that’s used at the start of this song also gained a lot of popularity. In fact, this track was included in Rolling Stone’s list of the 15 Best Whistling Songs of All Time.
That’s all you need to know about DW and everything it stands for. People have the habit of using Internet acronyms everywhere in their online conversations and it can be really frustrating to be the only one who doesn’t know what they are trying to convey.
One could indeed ask them directly, but that can be slightly embarrassing at times. From here on though, DW about finding yourself unaware of the meaning of DW.
DW means:
Dear Wife
DW is a term of written digital affection for "dear wife" or "darling wife."
DW is used by posters on the internet referring to their spouses or significant others. The "dear" is sometimes interpreted as sarcastic, in which case you'd need to know the sender's situation to distinguish between the meanings unless it is obvious in the usage.
Example 1
Friend #1: I need to go pick up DW from work.
Friend #2: OK, tell her hi for me, ttyl!
In this example, the first person is ending a chat to pick up his wife. He uses DW in place of her name (without saying my), and it is clear that his friend knows her, as well.
Example 2
Husband: Thanks for sharing your cold with me, DW.
Wife: What's mine is yours, darling.
In this example, the couple seems to refer to one another as "dear wife" and "darling" in a playful, slightly sarcastic way.
Example 3
Friend 1: My EX "DW" is driving me crazy!
Friend 2: I warned you about that one, buddy.
In this example, two friends are talking about the first friend's former partner. The quotation marks imply that Friend 1 is using the term loosely.
Other family acronyms you may run across on the internet include:
Other common relationship acronyms on the internet are:
