Phrase guide

sawtooth wave

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A function or waveform that repeatedly ramps upwards (usually linearly) and then sharply drops.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From sawtooth + wave, named for its resemblance to the jagged teeth of a saw when graphed.

Across languages

Translations

15 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 鋸齒波 /锯齿波 (jùchǐbō) — function or waveform that ramps upwards and then sharply drops
  • Dutch: zaagtandgolf — function or waveform that ramps upwards and then sharply drops
  • Dutch: zaagtand — function or waveform that ramps upwards and then sharply drops
  • Estonian: saehammaslaine — function or waveform that ramps upwards and then sharply drops
  • Finnish: sahalaita-aalto — function or waveform that ramps upwards and then sharply drops
  • Finnish: saha-aalto — function or waveform that ramps upwards and then sharply drops
  • French: onde en dents de scie — function or waveform that ramps upwards and then sharply drops
  • German: Sägezahnschwingung — function or waveform that ramps upwards and then sharply drops
  • Italian: onda a dente di sega — function or waveform that ramps upwards and then sharply drops
  • Japanese: のこぎり波 (nokogiri nami) — function or waveform that ramps upwards and then sharply drops
  • Polish: fala ząbkowana — function or waveform that ramps upwards and then sharply drops
  • Portuguese: onda dente de serra — function or waveform that ramps upwards and then sharply drops
  • Russian: пилообра́зная волна́ (piloobráznaja volná) — function or waveform that ramps upwards and then sharply drops
  • Swedish: sågtandsvåg — function or waveform that ramps upwards and then sharply drops
  • Swedish: sågtand — function or waveform that ramps upwards and then sharply drops