wyvern

English

A wyvern

Alternative forms

• wivern, wiver

Etymology

Alteration of Middle English wyver (“viper”), borrowed from , from Latin vīpera (“viper; snake, serpent”). Doublet of weever and viper.

Pronunciation

• enPR: wī'və(r)n, wĭ'və(r)n, wē'və(r)n, IPA^(key): /ˈwaɪvə(ɹ)n/, /ˈwɪvə(ɹ)n/, /ˈwivə(ɹ)n/

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• Rhymes: -aɪvə(ɹ)n, -ɪvə(ɹ)n, -ivə(ɹ)n

Noun

wyvern (plural wyverns)

1. (heraldry, mythology, fantasy) A draconian creature possessing wings, only two legs and usually a barbed tail.
   • 1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh:  […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC:

     The jargon of heraldry, its griffins, its moldwarps, its wyverns, and its dragons.

   • 1940-54 The Collected Poetry of Malcolm Lowry, "WE SIT UNHACKLED DRUNK AND MAD TO EDIT", UBC Press,1992, p.222:

     Notions of freedom are tied up in drink / Our ideal life contains a tavern / Where man may sit and talk of or just think / All without fear of the nighted wyvern, / Or yet another tavern where it appears.

Translations

mythical dragon-like creature

• Bulgarian: виверн (vivern)
• Catalan: víbria f, vibra (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 雙足飛龍／双足飞龙, 双足飞龙 (shuāngzúfēilóng)

• Danish: lindorm c
• Dutch: wyvern
• Esperanto: (dukrura) drako, viverno
• Finnish: traakki (fi)
• French: vouivre (fr), guivre (fr)
• Galician: coca f
• German: Lindwurm (de) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: vuibhearn m
• Italian: viverna f
• Japanese: 飛竜 (ja) (ひりゅう, hiryū), ワイバーン (ja) (waibān)
• Marathi: वाय्व्हर्न m (vāyvharna)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: linnorm m

  Nynorsk: linnorm m

• Polish: wywerna f
• Portuguese: serpe (pt)
• Russian: виверн m (vivern), виверна f (viverna)
• Spanish: dragón alado m, guiverno (es) m
• Swedish: lindorm (sv) c

See also

• dragon
• drake
• lindworm
• wyrm