What is "whdw"

Whdw is a term for something understood within Ancient Egyptian culture.

According to one source the term refers to a process of decay within the lower intestine, i.e. it refers to Feces within the bowels. Steuer and Bertrand de Cusance Morant Saunders contend that the term is more difficult to translate, and offer alternative translations, these being, residues (from a translation by Jones), putrefaction or corruption (their own suggestion), miasma (according to Jonckheere). With regards to settling for putrefaction or corruption Steuer and Bertrand de Cusance Morant Saunders encourage caution, since the word Whdw they consider to exist as something more than of a purely physical nature, in the ancient Egyptian understanding.

The term Whdw is seen within the papyri Ebers, Hearst and Berlin 3038.

Whdw was thought to enter the mtw (i.e. the vascular system) from through the pḥwy (i.e. the anus) and additionally was perhaps present in excrement as a pus producing materia peccans.