No longer just a word for gamers, w00t has made its way into Merriam-Webster's list of top-ten favourite words that don't appear in the dictionary.Thousands of people submitted their favourite word, with w00t taking third place behind ginormous and confuzzled. The accepted meaning of w00t is an "exclamation of joy or excitement", though there is confusion about its exact origin:
The definite origin of the term "w00t" is unknown. One theory claims that usage of this term dates back to the mid-1990s, when it was probably derived from the alternative spellings of whoomp and whoot. These spellings are variously used in the phrases, "Whoomp, there it is," or "Whoot, there it is" from two songs in 1993 from rap groups Tag Team and 95 South, respectively.
Another possibility is that it came from the vocalization made by the character in games of the Quake series when a jump is performed, usually done on an opposing player's body after being shot. However, as Quake was only first released in 1996, this etymology probably only furthered the popularity of the existing term.
Others have theorized the term is an acronym for "We Owned the Other Team", or that "w00t" finds its origin in the sounds of a jubilant Daffy Duck, though there is little evidence to support these theories.
It has also been alleged that "w00t" is a contraction of the phrase "wonderous loot!" or "wow, loot!", used in Ultima Online and Everquest whenever a player found large quantities of treasure, although it is uncertain if this is really the case.
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Wikipedia definition of w00t
Slashdot: w00t is 3rd Favorite Non-Dictionary Word
Urban Dictionary/w00t
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