In Japanese, wan わん is the sound dogs make when they bark, an onomatopoeia. In other words: wan is "woof" in Japanese, or wanwan わんわん means "bow-wow" in Japanese, or something like that.
Note that wan わん doesn't have kanji and may be written with hiragana because hiragana is cuter, or written with katakana as wan ワン.
When wan' わんっ or wan' ワンッ are written instead, with a small tsu っ at the end of the phrase, it emphasizes the sound, expressing a stronger-sounding bark.
Manga: Gabriel DropOut, ガヴリールドロップアウト (Chapter 7)
Manga: Gakkou-gurashi! がっこうぐらし！ (Chapter 17)
Other Wounds Dogs Make
By the way, dogs make other noises too, not just wan, and so the following words also exist:
- gurururu
グルルル
Grr. - uofu
ウォフ
Woof. Roof. - uufu
ウゥフ - kyaun
キャウン
Nnn.. nnn.. nnn... (crying sound.) - kyuun
キューン
- Note that kyun キュン also has other meanings.
For reference, some examples:
Anime: Slow Start (Episode 7)
- Context: a fox sign being used to imitate a dog.
- What sort of blasphemy is this?
- wan
わん
*woof*
- Context: a dog appears!
- wan' wan'
ワンッワンッ
Woof woof! - gurururu...
グルルル･･･
Grrr... - dekee!!
でけぇ！！
[It] is huge!- Relaxed pronunciation of dekai でかい.
- Symbols: focus lines, realization mark.
- kono deka-sa wa... kuma ka!!
このデカさは･･･クマか！！
This huge-ness... [it] is a bear?!!
This size... a bear?!!- In the sense of, with this size, this animal must be a bear! It's the only logical conclusion!
- Context: a dog is tamed.
- kyaun kyaun'
キャウンキャウンッ
*dog whining noises* - ※koufuku no poozu
※降伏のポーズ
Pose of submission. - oo, otonashiku natta zo!
おぉおとなしくなったぞ！
Ooh, [it] became docile! - yatta!!
やった！！
[We] did [it]!
- Context: a girl gives a dog a head pat.
- nade-nade
なでなで
*pat pat* - wan'
わんっ
Woof. - wa'
わっ
Wah! - furi-furi
ふりふり
*wagging of tail*
- Context: anime attempts inter-species communication, circa 2014, colorized.
- anata jishin mo inu no kimochi ni natte hanashi-kakeru
あなた自身も犬の気持ちになって話しかける
You yourself too become like the dog's feelings and start talking.- You put yourself in the dog's shoes and start talking to him.
- You make yourself feel like a dog and start talking to him.
- You make yourself think like a dog and start talking to him.
- hanashi kakeru
話しかける
To start talking with someone. (in this case, with the dog.) - inu no kimochi
犬の気持ち
Dog's feelings.
How the dog feels.
How the dog thinks.
The perspective of a dog. - anata jishin mo
あなた自身も
You yourself too. You too. (the dog already thinks like a dog, so the point is that you, too, think like a dog.)
- sou sureba {inu no itteiru} koto mo wakaru toiu mono desu yo
そうすれば犬の言っていることもわかるというものですよ
If [you] do that, the thing [that] {the dog is saying} [you'll] understand.
If you do that, you should be able to understand what the dog is saying. - wan'
わんっ
Woof.
The word nyan にゃん would be the sound cats make in Japanese, "meow."
See also: sounds animals make in Japanese.
The word wanko わんこ, derived from wan, would be a cutesy way to refer to a "doggy."
Homonyms
Beware that wan ワン is homonym with the katakanization of the English number "one." That is, wan piisu ワンピース means "one piece," and probably not "woof piece." This may be used in word play. Notably:
- juu-ichi-gatsu tsuitachi
１１月１日
First of November.
Is also known as the "Dog's Day," inu no hi 犬の日, because wan, wan, wan １１１ sounds like a dog barking.
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