ferity

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin feritas, from ferus (“wild”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɛɹɪti/

Noun

ferity (uncountable)

1. The quality or fact of being wild or in a wild state; wildness, brutishness.
   • 1658, Sir Thomas Browne, Urne-Burial (Penguin 2005, p. 29)

     To burn the bones of the King of Edom for Lyme, seems no irrationall ferity.

   • 1862, Henry David Thoreau, Walking:

     The wildness of the savage is but a faint symbol of the awful ferity with which good men and lovers meet.

Related terms

• fierce