Waw is the sixth letter of the Syriac abjad, with the numeral value six. It writes the consonant w, and it also carries the long vowels u and o, which makes it one of the few letters in a consonantal script that can stand for a vowel. Which of the two vowels is meant is settled by the pointing, and the two Syriac traditions point differently: the eastern hand uses arrangements of dots, the western hand small Greek vowel letters written above the consonants.
Waw joins only to the right, so the letter that follows it begins a new connected group. Its name is the inherited Northwest Semitic word for a hook or a nail, another gloss belonging to the older linear alphabet rather than to the Syriac shape.
The letter is everywhere in Syriac text, because w prefixed to a word is the conjunction and. Syriac joins clauses far more freely than English does, so narrative prose and the Peshitta both carry long chains of words each opening with waw. Since waw does not join to the letter after it, each of those chains begins with a visible break, which gives a page of Syriac a characteristic rhythm.
Estrangela, Serto and Madnhaya each draw waw in their own way. This entry is for the letter itself, which all three write, and not for any single hand.