wah gwaan
/ˈwɑː ˈɡwɑ̃/
The English phrase "what happened" can be expressed in Jamaican as wah gwaan.
wah gwaan is an informal greeting used to ask someone how they are or what is going on. Other variations include Weh gwaan?, which specifically asks "What's going on?" regarding the latest events or updates and Wa'appen?, a colloquial way to ask "What happened?" If you want to ask about the outcome of a specific situation, you can use How di ting did go? to mean "How did things go?"
How do you pronounce it?
/ˈwɑː ˈɡwɑ̃/
When do people say it?
When someone greets you with wah gwaan, you can respond with mi deh yah, which literally means "I am here" but is used to say you are doing okay or everything criss to indicate that everything is fine.
Did you know?
- In certain contexts, wah gwaan can be used as a challenge or a way to ask 'what is your problem?' depending on the speaker's tone and facial expression.
- The slang term criss used in responses to these greetings originally comes from the English word 'crisp', implying that a situation is neat, clean, or well-ordered.
- While wah gwaan is a greeting, the term gwaan is also used as a verb meaning 'to behave' or 'to act', such as telling someone not to gwaan a certain way.
Examples in context
- Wah gwaan, mi bredda?What's up, my brother?
- Ey, wah gwaan?Hey, what's up?
Example conversation
Tanesha and Ricardo meet on a street in Kingston.
- TaneshaWah gwaan, Ricardo?What's up, Ricardo?
- RicardoNuh nuttin, Tanesha. Everyting cool.Nothing, Tanesha. Everything is cool.
- TaneshaDat good fi hear.That is good to hear.
- RicardoYeah man, yuh know.Yeah man, you know.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry wah gwaan, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
