uw

Uw is a two-letter sequence that has several meanings, depending on capitalization and context. In English-language usage, UW is most often an acronym for universities, particularly the University of Washington in Seattle and, in some cases, the University of Wisconsin–Madison. These two institutions are unrelated, located in different states, and are among the major public universities in their regions. The UW acronym is also used for the broader University of Wisconsin System, a state-wide network of public universities and colleges.

The University of Washington (UW) is a public research university founded in 1861, with its main campus in Seattle and additional campuses in Tacoma and other locations. It is known for programs across engineering, medicine, computer science, the sciences, and the humanities, and it operates a large medical center and extensive research initiatives. The University of Wisconsin–Madison (UW–Madison) is a public research university established in 1848 in Madison, Wisconsin. It has a wide range of programs and strengths in life sciences, engineering, social sciences, and the arts and humanities, and it also hosts a large campus community and research enterprise.

In Dutch, uw is a formal second-person possessive determiner meaning "your," used before a noun in polite address (for example, uw huis = your house). It contrasts with informal forms such as jouw/je.

Outside of these uses, uw as a lowercase sequence appears in various abbreviations, technical terms, or language-specific contexts, but there is no single dominant meaning beyond the contexts described above.