werewolf

English

Alternative forms

• warwolf (obsolete), wehrwolf (archaic), were wolf (rare), were-wolf, werwolf (dated)

Etymology

From Middle English werwolf, from Old English werewulf, from Proto-West Germanic *werawulf, from Proto-West Germanic *wer (“man”) +‎ *wulf (“wolf”). By surface analysis, were- +‎ wolf. Cognate with Dutch weerwolf, Low German Warwulf, German Werwolf, Danish varulv, Swedish varulv, and even possibly Finnish vironsusi.

Compare also French garou, in loup-garou, French dialectal gairou, varou (“werewolf”), Medieval Latin gerulphus, garulphus (“werewolf”), all from Germanic, probably Frankish *werawulf.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈwɛːwʊlf/, /ˈwɪəwʊlf/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈwɛəɹwʊlf/, /ˈwɪəɹwʊlf/, /ˈwɜɹwʊlf/

Noun

werewolf (plural werewolves)

1. (mythology) A person who is transformed or can transform into a wolf or a wolflike human, often said to do so during a full moon.

   Synonyms: lycanthrope, man-wolf, wolfman

   Hypernym: turnskin

   Hyponyms: (female werewolf) werewolfess, werewoman, wolfwoman

   Near-synonym: dogman

Derived terms

• werewolfdom
• werewolfery
• werewolfess
• werewolf girdle
• werewolfish
• werewolfism
• werewolf syndrome
• werewolfy

 

Translations

wolflike human

• Afrikaans: weerwolf (af)
• Albanian: luqerbull (sq) m
• Arabic: مُسْتَذْئِب m (mustaḏʔib), مُسْتَذْئِبَة f (mustaḏʔiba)
• Armenian: մարդագայլ (hy) (mardagayl)
• Belarusian: ваўкала́к m (vaŭkalák), пярэ́варацень m (pjarévaracjenʹ), пе́раварацень m (pjéravaracjenʹ), скі́дзень m (skídzjenʹ)
• Breton: den-bleiz (br)
• Bulgarian: въркола́к (bg) m (vǎrkolák)
• Catalan: home llop m, licantrop m
• Champenois: voirloup m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 狼人 (long⁴ jan⁴)

  Mandarin: 狼人 (zh) (lángrén)

• Cornish: gourvlyth
• Czech: vlkodlak (cs) m
• Danish: varulv c
• Dutch: weerwolf (nl) m
• Esperanto: lupfantomo, homlupo, luphomo (rare), likantropo (eo) (rare)
• Estonian: libahunt
• Faroese: varúlvur
• Finnish: ihmissusi (fi), vironsusi
• French: loup-garou (fr) m, garou (fr) m (archaic), lycanthrope (fr) m or f
• Galician: lobishome (gl) m, licántropo (gl) m
• Georgian: მაქცია (makcia), ლიკანთროპი (liḳantroṗi), მგელკაცა (mgelḳaca)
• German: Werwolf (de) m, Werwölfin f, Mannwolf m, Lykanthrop m, Lykanthropin f
• Greek: λυκάνθρωπος (el) m (lykánthropos)

  Ancient: λυκάνθρωπος m (lukánthrōpos)

• Hebrew: אָדָם זְאֵב (he) m (adám zeév), אַנְשֵׁי זְאֵב m pl (anshéi zeév)
• Hindi: भेड़ियामानव m (bheṛiyāmānav), भड़मानस m (bhaṛmānas), वेरवुल्फ़ m (vervulf)
• Hungarian: farkasember (hu), vérfarkas (hu)
• Icelandic: varúlfur (is) m
• Ido: volfohomo (io), likantropo (io)
• Indonesian: manusia serigala
• Interlingua: lycanthropo
• Irish: conriocht m, fearolc m
• Italian: licantropo (it) m, lupo mannaro, uomo-lupo
• Japanese: 狼男 (ja) (おおかみおとこ, ōkamiotoko), 人狼 (じんろう, jinrō), 狼人 (ろうじん, rōjin), 狼人間 (おおかみにんげん, ōkaminingen)
• Korean: 늑대인간 (ko) (neukdaein'gan)
• Latgalian: vylkataks m, vylkatece f
• Latin: versipellis m, lycanthropus m, lupinotuum m, virlupus m
• Latvian: vilkacis, vilkatis, vilkateks, kadars
• Limburgish: waerwouf (li)
• Lithuanian: vilktakas m, vilkolakis (lt) m
• Low German: Węrwulf m, Werwulf m

  German Low German: Warwulf m

• Macedonian: врколак m (vrkolak)
• Malay: serigala jadian, likantrop
• Manx: conreeaght
• Marathi: वेअरवुल्फ m (vearvulpha)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: хүн чоно (xün čono)

• Norman: ouothou m (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: varulv m

• Old English: werewulf m
• Persian: گرگینه (fa) (gorgine)
• Polish: wilkołak (pl) m, likantrop m
• Portuguese: lobisomem (pt) m, licantropo m, lobanil f
• Romanian: vârcolac (ro)
• Russian: волкула́к m (volkulák), волкола́к (ru) m (volkolák), верво́льф m (vervólʹf), о́боротень (ru) m (óborotenʹ), ликантро́п (ru) m (likantróp), верво́лк m (vervólk)
• Scottish Gaelic: fear-faol m, fearolc m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: вуко̀длак m

  Roman: vukòdlak (sh) m

• Slovak: vlkolak (sk) m
• Slovene: volkodlak (sl)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: wjelikoraz m

  Upper Sorbian: wjelkoraz m

• Spanish: hombre lobo (es) m, licántropo (es) m, lobisón m, lobisome m
• Swahili: nusumbwa, mtu-mbwa
• Swedish: varulv (sv) c
• Thai: มนุษย์หมาป่า (th) (má-nút-mǎa-bpàa)
• Turkish: kurt adam, erbörü
• Ukrainian: вовкула́ка m (vovkuláka), пере́вертень m (perévertenʹ), вовкула́к m (vovkulák), вовку́н m (vovkún)
• Vietnamese: người sói (𠊛獪), ma sói (魔獪)
• Volapük: lükantropan, lupamen, menalupan
• Walloon: leu-waerou (wa), waerleu (wa)
• Welsh: bleidd-ddyn
• Yiddish: וואָלקעלאַק m (volkelak)

Further reading

• werewolf on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Werewolf, werwolf”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume X, Part 2 (V–Z), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 319.