A **wake word** is a phrase used to trigger voice assistants such as Amazon's Alexa, Apple's Siri, and Google's voice assistant. 'Hey Siri', 'Okay Google', and 'Alexa' are a few examples of popular wake words. When a wake word is detected, the system engages in capturing, decoding, and servicing the request made; otherwise, it is passively listening for  trigger words. 


> Technologies such as wake words are enabled by the latest developments in [natural language processing (NLP)](https://www.educative.io/answers/what-is-natural-language-processing).   

What is a wake word?