Meaning

noun one of a series of ridges that moves across the surface of a liquid (especially across a large body of water)

noun a movement like that of a sudden occurrence or increase in a specified phenomenon

noun (physics) a movement up and down or back and forth

originFrom Middle English *wave, partially from waven (“to fluctuate, wave”) (see above) and partially from Middle English wawe, waghe (“wave”), from Old English wǣg (“a wave, billow, motion, water, flood, sea”), from Proto-Germanic *wēgaz (“motion, storm, wave”), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- (“to drag, carry”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian waag (“wave”), West Frisian weach (“wave”), Dutch…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0