Definition
The disturbed, turbulent airflow trailing behind a wing as it moves through the air. This wake includes swirling air shed from the wing's surfaces and trailing edges, and is especially pronounced when the wing is operating at high angles of attack or near the stall.
Plain English
The messy, churned-up air left behind a wing as it flies. The harder the wing is working, the more disturbed that trailing air becomes.
Context Anchor
Seen in stall discussions, especially when describing buffet or other warnings that the wing is approaching a stall.
Derivation
Wake' comes from an old Norse word for the track left by a ship moving through water. The same idea applies in the air: anything moving through a fluid leaves a trail of disturbance behind it. A wing's wake is its airborne 'wake' in exactly that sense.
Why Pilots Care
The wake strikes the tail and produces buffet, giving a natural tactile warning before full loss of lift.
Analogy
A boat leaves rough water behind it as it moves. A wing can leave rough air behind it in a similar way.
Intuition Check
Do not confuse wing wake with the large wake turbulence left behind another airplane. Here, wing wake means the disturbed air coming from your own wing, especially during stall conditions.
Example Sentence 1
As the airplane approached the stall, the tail began to buffet as it entered the turbulent wing wake.
Example Sentence 2
The instructor pointed out the wing wake buffet as the first sign that recovery should begin.