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)

(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

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)