Meanings
whatsapp1
present singular third person whatsapps · participle present whatsapping · participle past whatsapped · past whatsapped
- Alternative letter-case form of WhatsApp.
WhatsApp2
alternative nonstandard Whatsapp · alternative whatsapp
- An instant messaging service founded in 2009 and acquired by Facebook in 2014.
He spends half of his day chatting to people on WhatsApp.
1 more example
Like many people, in the pandemic, my life digitized. My work shifted online; my friendships retreated onto FaceTime and WhatsApp; I used a dating app for the first time; I started doing online yoga.
2022 September 27, Barclay Bram, “My Therapist, the Robot”, in The New York TimesSynonyms: WTS
plural WhatsApps · alternative nonstandard Whatsapp · alternative whatsapp
- A message sent via WhatsApp.
A WhatsApp buzzed through.
2015, Jenny Stallard, “Monday, 19 October”, in Boyfriend by Christmas, London: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 2512 more examples
Fourteen iMessages, six WhatsApps, and two missed calls. She frowned, confused by the list of names appearing. She wasn't that popular.
2016, Sarah Pinborough, 13 Minutes, New York, N.Y.: Flatiron Books, published October 2017, →ISBN, page 9David Spearing, if it weren’t for our weird late-night whatsapps and you literally saying the words ‘THE CREAKERS’ to me, then this book would never have happened and I can’t thank you enough for all your ideas and directorial wizardry on all the videos we make.
2017, Tom Fletcher, “Acknowledgements”, in The Creakers, London: Puffin Books, →ISBN, page 342
present singular third person WhatsApps · participle present WhatsApping · participle past WhatsApped · past WhatsApped · alternative nonstandard Whatsapp · alternative whatsapp
- transitiveTo contact (someone) via WhatsApp.
- ditransitiveTo send (something) via WhatsApp to (someone).
And no one sends emails like that anymore because now we’re all just doing what, obviously, everyone does, is WhatsApping each other short little things.
2025 August 13, Sam Graham-Felsen, “Where Did All My Male Friendships Go?”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 13 Aug 20251 more example
People often say pooping is taboo, but lately it seems more like a cultural fetish. There are poop emoji birthday parties for three-year-olds, people WhatsApping photos of their ordure to friends, TripAdvisor threads on how to avoid or avail yourself of squat toilets.
2018 November 30, Alex Blasdel, “Bowel movement: the push to change the way you poo”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC
Whatsapp3
- nonstandardNonstandard form of WhatsApp.
My reverie was broken with a Whatsapp message. It was Nandini, my cousin from Kolkata, asking how the conference had gone.
2015, Madhuri Banerjee, chapter 6, in My Clingy Girlfriend, New Delhi: westland ltd, →ISBN, page 362 more examples
Volunteers were signed into a Whatsapp account and details of where and when they would canvass were posted there every day.
2016, Gráinne Healy, Brian Sheehan, Noel Whelan, “Tomorrow Will Be Different: Building a Canvassing Army” (chapter 5), in Ireland Says Yes: The Inside Story of How the Vote for Marriage Equality Was Won, Sallins, Co. Kildare: Merrion Press, →ISBN, page 86Some of her friends had invited her out, via a Whatsapp chat entitled Xmas drinkies!!! but her heart sank at the prospect of dragging herself into the West End for an evening of enforced sociability at some overpriced bar.
2017, Clara Christensen, Hygge and Kisses, London: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 269
plural Whatsapps
- nonstandardNonstandard form of WhatsApp.
Everyone is on the scanners talking about it. Local media is calling, Whatsapps from friends, Twitter’s gone crazy.
2016, Mongiwekhaya, I See You / Ngiyakubona / Ek Sien Jou / Ndiyakubona, London: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, →ISBN, scene 4, page 222 more examples
She looks at her phone and wonders if Devrat’s leaving her texts and Whatsapps and Facebook messages and Twitter favourites while she’s flying.
2014, Durjoy Datta, When Only Love Remains, Gurgaon, Haryana: Penguin Books India, →ISBN, pages 149–150‘I really don’t know who’s at the centre of it. I had a Whatsapp from my old IT tutor. He said some friends wanted to test their firewall so could I hack in to pretend to bring it down. They gave me the data, I wrote some code and passed it back. And that’s it!’
2021, Yomi Ṣode, “Tomorrow, As In”, in Happy Here: 10 Stories from Black Authors & Illustrators, London: Knights of Media, →ISBN, page 252
present singular third person Whatsapps · participle present Whatsapping · participle past Whatsapped · past Whatsapped
- nonstandardNonstandard form of WhatsApp.
She then came and stood right in front of the humungous building, clicked a quick selfie, and Whatsapped the image to Ekansh with three kiss smileys.
2014, Novoneel Chakraborty, Marry Me, Stranger (The Stranger Trilogy; 1), Gurgaon, Haryana: Random House India, →ISBN, page 192 more examples
After she has walked off, I stay sat in the booth and turn on my phone. Fitz has Whatsapped me. Jacobs, call me now. He messages me again, this time via text.
2016, Ollie Quain, She Just Can't Help Herself, London: HarperCollinsPublishers, →ISBN, page 123I kept tossing and turning, thinking about Jay and what he’d done. It’d been six hours since I’d Whatsapped him to let him know the latest and he still hadn’t responded, even though the two blue ticks appeared.
2017, Nadiya Hussain, The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters, London: HarperCollinsPublishers, →ISBN, page 108
Synonyms & antonyms
proper nounAn instant messaging service founded in 2009 and acquired by Facebook in 2014.
Origin
Blend of what's up + app, coined as a trademark.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic واتساب
- واتسابmessaging service
Chinese Mandarin 瓦次艾普, 瓦次普
- 瓦次艾普 (wǎcì àipǔ)messaging service
- 瓦次普 (wǎcìpǔ)messaging service
Dutch WhatsAppbericht, whatsappbericht
- WhatsAppberichtmessage
- whatsappberichtmessage
- whatsappmessage
- appjemessage
- whatsappento contact via WhatsApp
- appento contact via WhatsApp
German WhatsApp-Nachricht, whatsappen
- WhatsApp-Nachrichtmessage
- whatsappento contact via WhatsApp
Indonesian WA, WA
- WAmessage
- WAto contact via WhatsApp
Japanese ワッツアップ
- ワッツアップ (wattsuappu)message
Korean 왓츠앱
- 왓츠앱 (watcheuaep)message
Persian واتساپ, وات
- واتساپ (vâts-ap)messaging service
- وات (vât)messaging service
Portuguese WhatsApp, Zap
- WhatsAppmessaging service
- Zapmessaging service
- WhatsAppmessage
- WhatsAppaccount
Russian ватсап, ватсап
- ватсап (vatsap)messaging service
- ватсап (vatsap)account
Spanish guasap, guásap
- guasapmessage
- guásapmessage
- wasmessage
- wasapmessage
- wásapmessage
- whatsappmessage
- guasapearto contact via WhatsApp
- wasapearto contact via WhatsApp
- whatsappearto contact via WhatsApp
Tamil வாட்ஸ்அப், வாட்ஸ்அப்
- வாட்ஸ்அப் (vāṭs’ap)messaging service
- வாட்ஸ்அப் (vāṭs’ap)message
Cite this entry
whatsapp. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whatsapp
“whatsapp.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whatsapp. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “whatsapp,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whatsapp.
Source: whatsapp on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.