What Is the W Sound in French?

The French version of the word Gere is derived from the Frankish word Wera which is cognate with the English word war. In late Romans and early French borrowed these Germanic words which began with the W sound, they had to figure out a way to pronounce them. Early French speakers actually had a problem pronouncing the W sound when it was at the front of a word. It's sort of like the X sound in modern English. The X sound is a Ks sound like an ox or ax but when it appears at the frontof a word English speakers have a hard time pronouncing it so English simply shifts that sound to a Z sound which is easier to pronounce.