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When you want to take notes during an important business meeting or when in class, there are abbreviations that help make the process faster. Both incorporate a slash (/) with either ‘w’ or ‘w’ and ‘o.’ The abbreviations of with are w/ or w. The abbreviations of without are w/o or w.o.
These are really easy and useful devices to help you jot things down and still pay attention to the discussion. There’s no serious memorization but are quicker means to indicate either word.
“With” Abbreviation
To shorten “With” as an abbreviation, write a ‘w’ and then insert a slash (/) alongside it. This will appear as “w/.”
Regular: The most common problems are with government and media lies.
Abbreviated: The most common problems are w/ government and media lies.
Regular: Sam, Ella, and Steve are to go with grandma.
Abbreviated: Sam, Ella, and Steve are to go w/ grandma.
Regular: With picks, axes, and shovels, do the garden today.
Abbreviated: W/ picks, axes, and shovels do the garden today.
Abbreviating “Without”
For abbreviating “Without” it’s basically similar to “With,” but there is an ‘o’ after the slash. This will appear as “w/o.”
Regular: Steak and potatoes but without onions.
Abbreviated: Steak and potatoes but w/o onions.
Regular: We can go without butter, milk, or cheese for now.
Abbreviated: We can go w/o butter, milk, or cheese for now.
Regular: Write the story without fluff, filler, and redundancies.
Abbreviated: Write the story w/o fluff, filler, and redundancies.
Reasons for the Backslash
There was once a time when people would write in shorthand. Jobs like court reporters, secretaries, and administrative assistants required proficiency in it. The slash was an important element to being able to write shorthand.
While shorthand is not around anymore, some of the ways of using it are still in circulation. You will see the slash indicating many other kinds of abbreviations as well.
On mailing addresses, when people want to say “care of,” they will use c/o.
Air conditioning – a/c
Other Ways to Abbreviate “With” and “Without”
You don’t always have to use a slash to abbreviate either “with” or “without.” You can insert a period (.) where the backslash should be instead.
With = w/ or w.
Without = w/o or w.o.
Conclusion
The slash used in conjunction with an arrangement of ‘w’ or ‘w’ and ‘o’ is the most common way to abbreviate “With” or “Without.” But, a period is also acceptable in place of the slash.
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Conor is the main writer here at One Minute English and was an English teacher for 10 years. He is interested in helping people with their English skills and learning about using A.I tools at work.
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#1
hello everyone. I was just wondering why it’s common to write «w/» instead of «with»?
maybe you can help me explaining this?
thanks in advance
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#2
Are you asking why it is common to abbreviate frequently used words? Or why the abbreviation for «with» uses the initial letter of the word?
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#3
i’m asking why the abbreviation for «with» is «w/» with a slash …why do you use a slash and not just the letter or are there any other words abbreviated with a slash behind the initial letter?
not an important question of course, i’m just curious
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#4
There is no other abbreviation I can think of that is just a letter followed by a slash. They are all letters followed by a slash and another letter e.g. N/A for not applicable. So might I suggest that w/ is the opposite of the abbreviation w/o meaning without, so you just leave out the o for out, to mean with?
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#5
Probably one of the most common is «w/o» for «without». I wonder if «w/» was borrowed from this?
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#6
Whatever the genesis, don’t you, guys, think it’s a bit senseless to abbreviate such a short word as ‘with’? After all, it could constitute an abbreviations by itself.
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#7
From the discussion I don’t understand if w/ is common or not… And, if so, would you write w/view or w/ view (leaving a space between the slash and the noun)?
Many thanks!
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#8
From the discussion I don’t understand if w/ is common or not… And, if so, would you write w/view or w/ view (leaving a space between the slash and the noun)?
Many thanks!
I don’t believe w/ is common as an abbreviation for with.
If you explain what you mean by w/view and post an example sentence it would help … although as I have no idea what this would be an abbreviation for I don’t expect I’ll be able to help anyway
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#9
W/view was just an example… I’d like to know — and you already answered no! — if it’s common. I was wondering, for instance, if «A room with sea view» could be shortened as «A room w/ sea view» or «A room w/sea view»…
Many thanks!
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#10
I was taught w/ along with a number of other abbreviations such as between /./ and therefore (three dots in the form of a triangle) at school as aids for notetaking. So in my mind they’re common, but that doesn’t mean they actually are terribly widespread, I suppose.
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#11
In text-speak, w/ = with, is very common.
To do the opposite, people (used to) generally use the other slash w = without.
I’ve noticed a drop in the trend of the backslash though, probably because people were confused with the ordering of the slashes and now I’d say what James mentioned earlier is the most common (w/o).
In answer to the question of «Why?», like I said it’s mainly txt-speak, so where you can save characters and type a message quickly, any space-saver is employed.
So rather than using 19 characters («To be or not to be?»), if Shakespeare was writing a note on his Blackberry today about his upcoming novel, he might note it as «2 b or nt 2 b?«, which saves 5 letters, and might spare him the 10p of a text message to his editor.
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#12
A great number of abbreviation (like w/ or three dots in a triangle) are borrowed from the jargon of specific areas of interest. The three dots is math notation. I’ve seen the w/ on prescriptions (and other medical notes) as in Take w/ water or Take w/ meals. (Without, however, is a lower case s with a bar over the top).
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#13
I was wondering, for instance, if «A room with sea view» could be shortened as «A room w/ sea view» or «A room w/sea view»…
Many thanks!
I think it’s best to include the space, otherwise the slash indicates a sort of «optionality», (I’ll have
fish/chicken
when I get home), that would be either fish or chicken, so just to avoid that I’d say the space after w/ makes it clear that it means «with». Though others might have no trouble in confusing that and have no space.
My preference would be for a space.
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#14
I was taught w/ along with a number of other abbreviations such as between /./ and therefore (three dots in the form of a triangle) at school as aids for notetaking. So in my mind they’re common, but that doesn’t mean they actually are terribly widespread, I suppose.
I agree — I learned these abbreviations in school before «text speak» was common. I believe w/ is very common in the US. I use it all the time and have never been questioned about it.
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#15
I think I’ve seen it only in chat rooms, and I use it when taking short notes.
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#16
Thank you all!
Actually, it’s the translation of a short description text, and the use of w/ could save just 2 characters. But as it’s a sequence of technical terms — as «Foreign OPA in Currency w/ deal (UK exchange) — online settlement — Credit interprocedural c/a» — a little compression could help. I know OPA is not an English (or American) term, but I’ve been told not to translate it and to leave it as acronym.
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#17
In text-speak, w/ = with, is very common.
To do the opposite, people (used to) generally use the other slash w = without.I’ve noticed a drop in the trend of the backslash though, probably because people were confused with the ordering of the slashes and now I’d say what James mentioned earlier is the most common (w/o).
In answer to the question of «Why?», like I said it’s mainly txt-speak, so where you can save characters and type a message quickly, any space-saver is employed.
So rather than using 19 characters («To be or not to be?»), if Shakespeare was writing a note on his Blackberry today about his upcoming novel, he might note it as «2 b or nt 2 b?«, which saves 5 letters, and might spare him the 10p of a text message to his editor.
«w/» and «w/o» are much, much older than text-speak, however. I’m sure I can find examples from early 20th century classified ads. I imagine they’re much older than that.
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#18
In text-speak, w/ = with, is very common.
Hey but what about this>> w/e = whatever [I’ve known it from somewhere] so «w/» doesn’t mean only «with» does it?
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#19
Text-speak is its own language. As others have said, «w/o» existed long before text-speak.
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#20
«w/» and «w/o» are much, much older than text-speak, however. I’m sure I can find examples from early 20th century classified ads. I imagine they’re much older than that.
Oh yeah, I can imagine.
I didn’t mean to (and don’t think I did) imply that one was older than the other, only that in text-speak there was a prevailing pattern, which then was replaced by another.
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#21
W/E is often the way weekend is abbreviated by those short of space or quickly taking notes. I had not seen w/ as an abbreviation for with until I moved to north America. I used to use c with a bar over it like the s with a bar over it (noted above); the bar indicated a Latin origin : cum and sine meaning with and without.
Last edited: Mar 3, 2011
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#22
I think of w/ as mostly a space-saver when you are paying by the line, by the word or by the letter, as in a real estate advertisement. «Rm w/view» is shorter than «Room with view»
I also think the slash somehow shows this is an abbreviation. Just writing «w» by itself doesn’t work and neither does «w.» (with a period). I wouldn’t write «rm w view» or «rm w. view» or «rm wview.»
Last edited: Mar 3, 2011
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#23
W/E is often the way weekend is abbreviated by those short of space or quickly taking notes. I had not seen w/ as an abbreviation for with until I moved to north America. I used to use c with a bar over it like the s with a bar over it (noted above); the bar indicated a Latin origin : cum and sine meaning with and without.
Thanks for reminding me of this! Oh yes, we were taught to use c with a bar as well at school, and that’s the abbreviation most of us used when taking notes at university in the early 80s. (Didn’t use the s with a bar though.) It’s listed here as a medical abbreviation.
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#24
I wouldn’t be surprised to see the c or s with a bar on a prescription here, but very surprised to see it anywhere else.
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#25
Is a space required after «w/»?
e.g.
EDIT: Never mind, this was already answered above.
I’ll add that in my experience this abbreviation is very common. I work in corporate environments in the UK and this is used frequently to save space in scheduling documents.
Last edited: May 5, 2022
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#26
Space after is normal.
ADDED. I think it might be omitted in classified advertisements.
Last edited: May 5, 2022
Is there a common abbreviation for «with or without»? e.g. w/wo or w/w/o
Obviously, something this complex is best written in full form, but I’m looking for something to use in space constrained applications. For example, I use a product management system that limits the length of product feature titles, and I’d like to convey in the title that this feature could be used with or without another feature.
Could anyone recommend a preferred substitute?
Related topics:
- Are «w/o», «w/», «b/c» common abbreviations in the US?
asked Aug 21, 2020 at 22:18
2
If this is for use with a limited audience, especially one which can be directed to a glossary of abbreviations, then w/wo could be a decent option. I’ve used it myself, and seen it used, so it wouldn’t seem strange to me. But as usual, context matters.
answered Aug 21, 2020 at 22:23
Jim MackJim Mack
11.6k4 gold badges33 silver badges49 bronze badges
It depends how much space you have, but I’ve used ‘w±o’ or ‘w∓o’ before to mean ‘with or without’ when space was exceedingly tight. You wouldn’t need a slash after it, but could use it if you’d like.
Like suppose the whole gang is starving one hot summer afternoon and so you tool on down to your local Doggie Heaven™ drive-in restaurant. When you get there, you notice that their menu advertises:
👉 Baskets come w/fries+slaw
👉 Naked dogs come w/o buns
👉 Fries and rings available w±o/salt
And so you order yourself up:
1 redhot basket w/rings
1 bratwurst basket w/kraut
1 naked polish w/chili
3 redhots w/o onions
1 knockwurst w/catsup
Or at least, that’s what your curbside food attendant writes down on their tiny little notepad, where space is dear and time of the essence.
answered Sep 21, 2020 at 0:23
tchrist♦tchrist
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∙ 11y ago
Best Answer
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«w/» is the standard abbreviation for «with».
Can also be abbreviated by a lower case ‘c’ with a line over it.
Usually used in the medical field.
Wiki User
∙ 11y ago
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