'awee' originates from 'Scots' (Scottish English), specifically the phrase 'a wee', where 'wee' meant 'small' or 'little'.

'a wee' (two words) has been used in Scots for centuries; in informal writing and dialectal speech it has sometimes been contracted to the single form 'awee' in the 19th–20th century, preserving the same sense of 'a little'.

Initially it meant 'small' or 'little' (from 'wee'); over time it retained that core meaning but came to be used more broadly as an adverb meaning 'a little' or 'for a short time' in colloquial contexts.