were

See also were-

English

Wikipedia

Etymology 1

Old English wǣre.

Pronunciation

• (stressed)
  • (UK) IPA: /wɜː(ɹ)/, SAMPA: /w3:(r\)/
  • (US) enPR: wûr, IPA: /wɝ/, SAMPA: /w3`/
• (unstressed)
  • (UK) IPA: /wə(ɹ)/, SAMPA: /w@(r\)/
  • (US) enPR: wər, IPA: /wɚ/, SAMPA: /w@`/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Rhymes: -ɜː(r)

• Homophone: whirr (in accents with the wine-whine merger)

Verb

were

1. Second-person singular simple past tense indicative of be.

   John, you were the only person to see him.

2. First-person plural simple past tense indicative of be.

   We were about to leave.

3. Second-person plural simple past tense indicative of be.

   Mary and John, you were right.

4. Third-person plural simple past tense indicative of be.

   They were a fine group.

5. Simple imperfect subjunctive in all persons of be.

   I wish that it were Sunday.

   I wish that I were with you.

   • with "if" omitted, put first in an "if" clause:

     Were it simply that she wore a hat, I would not be upset at all. (= If it were simply...)

     Were father a king, we would have war. (= If father were a king,...)

   • 2011 November 3, David Ornstein, “Macc Tel-Aviv 1 - 2 Stoke”, BBC Sport:

     Maccabi would have been out of contention were it not for Stoke's profligacy, but their fortune eventually ran out as the visitors opened the scoring.

6. (Northern England) was.

Synonyms

• (second-person singular past indicative, archaic) wast (used with "thou")
• (second-person singular imperfect subjunctive, archaic) wert (used with "thou")

See also

am are is art be being

been beest was wast wert

Etymology 2

Old English wer, from Proto-Germanic *weraz, from Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós (“man”).

Noun

Wikipedia were (plural weres)

1. (archaic) man (human male), as in werewolf (“man-wolf”).
2. (fandom slang) The collective name for any kind of person that changes into another form under certain conditions, including the werewolf.

Related terms

• were-
• weregild
• werewolf
• world

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: she · they · my · #35: were · are · their · one

Anagrams

• ewer, rewe, weer

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -eːrə

Verb

were

1. singular present subjunctive of weren.

Anagrams

• weer

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Kurdish

Verb

were

1. Imperative singular of hatin.