mwah-mwah kiss

8.8

A playful sound people make without touching when they blow a kiss

noun
/mwɑː mwɑː kɪs/

Texting

: mua-mua

Instead of a real kiss, he gave her a playful mwah-mwah kiss across the room.

Examples

I love giving my mom a mwah-mwah kiss before she leaves.
She ended the call with a cheerful mwah-mwah kiss to her friend.
After his speech, he blew a mwah-mwah kiss to the audience.
She blew a mwah-mwah kiss to her friend.
After his speech, he blew a mwah-mwah kiss to the audience.
Instead of a real kiss, he gave her a playful mwah-mwah kiss across the room.
She ended the call with a cheerful mwah-mwah kiss to her friend.

Synonyms

kiss

vsmwah-mwah kiss

752 1.0

A touch of lips on someone to show love, greeting, or respect

is mostly a sound or blown gesture rather than actual lip contact

smooch

vsmwah-mwah kiss

Informal

14 6.1

A short, loving kiss shared between people

focuses more on sound or blown gesture instead of close contact

smack

vsmwah-mwah kiss

Informal

6 5.6

A loud, enthusiastic kiss that makes a sound

is usually only a sound or blown gesture without contact

pah

vsmwah-mwah kiss

Informal

1 9.9

A short popping sound made playfully to show a kiss or light spit

is a longer exaggerated affectionate sound or gesture rather than a short pop

mwah-mwah

vsmwah-mwah kiss

Texting

9.9

A kissing sound used to show love or send a playful greeting

is a more exaggerated sound gesture often made without touching

mwa

vsmwah-mwah kiss

Texting

9.9

A written kiss sound people use to show affection in messages

is more often spoken or gestured rather than only written

How Playful

mwah-mwah kiss

Texting

8.8

to blow a kiss

3 2.7

kiss

752 1.0

Surface Forms

mwah-mwah kiss singular

mwah-mwah kisses plural

Morphology

mwah-mwah + kiss

The meaning is directly built from the onomatopoeic interjection 'mwah-mwah' (a playful kissing sound) combined with 'kiss', so a learner who knows both words can infer an exaggerated kissing sound or gesture. The construction is compositional and cross-linguistically familiar (many languages use similar kissing sounds), making it immediately comprehensible to B1 learners.

Etymology

Mwah-mwah kiss comes from the repeated little sound people make when they blow a kiss; the first part, mwah-mwah, copies the kissing noise and kiss names the act. So it now means 'an exaggerated kissing sound or a playful blown kiss', often without real contact.