werewolf

were·wolf also wer·wolf  (wârwlf, wîr-, wûr-)

n.

A person believed to have been transformed into a wolf or to be capable of assuming the form of a wolf.

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[Middle English, from Old English werewulf : wer, man; see w-ro- in Indo-European roots + wulf, wolf; see wolf.]

Word History: The wolf in werewolf is current English; the were is not. Werewulf, "werewolf," occurs only once in Old English, about the year 1000, in the laws of King Canute: "lest the madly ravenous werewolf too savagely tear or devour too much from a godly flock." The wer- or were- in wer(e)wulf means "man"; it is related to Latin vir with the same meaning, the source of virile and virility. Both the Germanic and the Latin words derive from Indo-European *wro-, "man." Wer- also appears, though much disguised, in the word world. World is first recorded (written wiaralde) in Old English in a charter dated 832; the form worold occurs in Beowulf. The Old English forms come from Germanic *wer-ald-, "were-eld" or "man-age." The transfer of meaning from the age of humans to the place where they live has a parallel in the Latin word saeculum, "age, generation, lifetime," later "world."

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werewolf

Noun

pl -wolves (in folklore) a person who can turn into a wolf [Old English wer man + wulf wolf]

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

werewolf - a monster able to change appearance from human to wolf and back again loup-garou, lycanthrope, wolfman mythical creature, mythical monster - a monster renowned in folklore and myth

Translations

werewolf [pl -wolves] [ˈwɪəwulf, -wulvz] n → hombre m lobo

werewolf [-wolves , pl ] [ˈwɪəwulf, -wulvz] n → loup-garou m

werewolf [ˈwɪəwulf] [werewolves , pl ] n → Werwolf m

werewolf [pl -wolves] [ˈwɪəwulf, -wulvz] n → licantropo, lupo mannaro (col)