WeChat

W4E1C3H4A1T1
/ˈwiːt͡ʃæt/

proper noun

A Chinese multi-purpose messaging, social media and mobile payment app.

Scrabble 14

Meanings

verbWeChat (third-person singular simple present WeChats, present participle WeChatting, simple past and past participle WeChatted)

present singular third person WeChats · participle present WeChatting · participle past WeChatted · past WeChatted

  1. To use the app WeChat; to use the app WeChat to contact (someone).

    Wechatting American politics: Misinformation, polarization, and immigrant Chinese media

    2019 November 5, Andy Ng, Tina Burrett, Jeffrey Kingston, Routledge
    3 more examples

    The "heads bowed down" (to look at cell phones), those obsessed with cell phones, virtual chat, the Internet, and excessive WeChatting, which we see as a phenomenon everywhere, reflect attempts to overcome the loneliness and disinterest this generation feels, and to make up for their empty spiritual world through newly available technologies.

    2017 April 5, Huidi Ma, Er Liu, Traditional Chinese Leisure Culture and Economic Development: A Conflict of Forces, Springer

    With the development of social platforms such as micro blogging and wechatting, Chinese short text classification has great impact on public opinion analysis and sentiment mining.

    2018 October 20, Leong Hou U, Haoran Xie, Web and Big Data: APWeb-WAIM 2018 International Workshops: MWDA, BAH, KGMA, DMMOOC, DS, Macau, China, July 23–25, 2018, Revised Selected Papers, Springer

    I WeChatted a seller calling herself Linda — a name that, amid others like Aadi, Aooko, Mr. Bao and Zippy, made her seem the least likely to scam me and/or get me placed on a C.I.A. watch list — and instantly she sent me photos of a dozen possible Triomphes.

    2023 May 4, Amy X. Wang, Grant Cornett, “Inside the Delirious Rise of ‘Superfake’ Handbags”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

Origin

Entered English no later than 2012 when the app was re-branded WeChat for the international market. We corresponds to the first character in the original Chinese name 微信 (Wēixìn, literally “micro-message”), + chat.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic وِي تْشَات
  • وِي تْشَات (wī tšāt)app - transliterations and translations
Bengali উইচ্যাট
  • উইচ্যাট (uiccaṭ)app - transliterations and translations
Chinese Cantonese 微信, we7
  • 微信 (mei⁴ seon³)app - transliterations and translations
  • we7app - transliterations and translations
  • v7app - transliterations and translations
Chinese Mandarin 微信, V (Wēi)
  • 微信 (Wēixìn)app - transliterations and translations
  • V (Wēi)to use the app
  • 發微信 /发微信 (fā wēixìn)to use the app
French WeChat
  • WeChatapp - transliterations and translations
German WeChat
  • WeChatapp - transliterations and translations
Hindi वीचैट
  • वीचैट (vīcaiṭ)app - transliterations and translations
Hungarian WeChat
  • WeChatapp - transliterations and translations
Japanese ウェイシン, ウィーチャット
  • ウェイシン (weishin)app - transliterations and translations
  • ウィーチャット (wīchatto)app - transliterations and translations
  • 微信 (weishin)app - transliterations and translations
Korean 위챗, 웨이씬
  • 위챗 (wichaet)app - transliterations and translations
  • 웨이씬 (weissin)app - transliterations and translations
Malay WeChat, Wicet
  • WeChatapp - transliterations and translations
  • Wicetapp - transliterations and translations
Russian Вэйси́н, Вэйси́нь
  • Вэйси́н (Vɛjsín)app - transliterations and translations
  • Вэйси́нь (Vɛjsínʹ)app - transliterations and translations
  • Вича́т (Vičát)app - transliterations and translations
Thai วีแชต
  • วีแชต (wii-chɛ̂ɛt)app - transliterations and translations
Vietnamese Vi tín, WeChat
  • Vi tínapp - transliterations and translations
  • WeChatapp - transliterations and translations
Cite this entry
APA

WeChat. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/WeChat

MLA

“WeChat.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/WeChat. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “WeChat,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/WeChat.

Source: WeChat on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.