wer

See also: wër and WER

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English wer, were, from Old English wer (“man”), from Proto-West Germanic *wer, from Proto-Germanic *weraz, from Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós (“man, freeman”).

Cognate with Middle High German wër (“man”), Swedish värbror (“brother-in-law”), Norwegian verfader (“father-in-law”), Latin vir (“man, husband”), Old Irish fer, Middle Welsh gwr. The original meaning of “man” is now preserved only in compounds like werewolf, were wolf (“man-wolf”) and wergeld, were gild (“man gold (payment)”).

Alternative forms

• were

Noun

wer (plural wers)

1. (obsolete or historical) A man; a male; a husband
   • 1862, E. William Robertson, Scotland Under Her Early Kings, page 137:

     […] the character of a horseman was inseparable connected with the knight—the military attendant of the baron, who was himself nothing more than the Wer, or Man, of the king—even the armiger, […]

   • 1864, Thomas Oswald Cockayne, Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early England [...] from Brit. mus. ms. Cotton. Vitellius C. III, page 205:

     Further is this wort of two kinds, wer and wife, or male and female. The wer, or male, hath white blossoms, and the wife, or female, hath red or brown; either is beneficial and wonderlike, and they have on them wondrous virtue.

2. (obsolete or historical) A fine for slaying a man; wergeld.
   • 1876, Essays in Anglo-Saxon Law, page 144:

     Under the system of money compensation, the kindred of the slain must demand payment of the wer, or prosecute the feud. They had the right to the wer when paid, and must by oath release the slayer and his kindred from the feud.

   • 1895, Frederick Pollock, Frederic William Maitland, “Inheritance”, in The History of English Law before the Time of Edward I, volume II, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: At the University Press; Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown, & Company, →OCLC, § 1 (Antiquities), page 239:

     It was so in the England of Alfred's day; the maternal kinsfolk paid a third of the wer. The Leges Henrici, which about such a matter will not be inventing new rules, tell us that the paternal kinsfolk pay and receive two-thirds, the maternal kinsfolk one-third of the wer; and this is borne out by other evidence.

Related terms

• were
• were-
• werewolf
• wergeld
• world

 

Etymology 2

Verb

wer

1. Eye dialect spelling of were.

Anagrams

• ERW, Rew, erw, rew

Ambonese Malay

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch weer.

Noun

wer

1. weather

   Wer ni mau ujang.

   The weather will be rainy now.

References

• D. Takaria, C. Pieter (1998) Kamus Bahasa Melayu Ambon-Indonesia‎^[1], Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa

Cornish

Adjective

wer

1. Soft mutation of gwer.

German

Etymology

From Middle High German wër, from Old High German wer, from Proto-West Germanic *hwaʀ. Related to wo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /veːr/, [veːɐ̯], [vɛɐ̯], [ʋ-]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophone: Wehr
• Rhymes: -eːɐ̯

Pronoun

wer

1. (interrogative) who (what person or people)

   Wer hat das gesagt? ― Who said that?

2. (interrogative, colloquial) what, which (one) (see usage notes)
3. (relative) whoever, he who, someone who, the person who, anyone who (whatever person or persons)

   Wer eine Frage hat, kann sich jetzt melden.

   Whoever has a question, put up their hands now.

   Wer im Glashaus sitzt, soll nicht mit Steinen werfen. (proverb)

   People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

4. (indefinite, colloquial) somebody, someone; anybody, anyone (an unspecified person)

   Synonyms: jemand, einer

   Da ist wer an der Tür. ― There's someone at the door.

Usage notes

• (what): In colloquial German, wer and its forms may be used in reference to things. This is often done when asking about a noun whose gender one knows to be masculine or feminine. For example: Kannst du mir mal den Dings rübergeben? – Wen? (“Could you pass me the thingamabob?” – “Pass what?”) In this case, the interrogative mirrors the grammatical gender of the noun one asks about.
• (someone): The colloquial wer meaning “someone” cannot usually be the first word in a main clause, because it could be misinterpreted as an interrogative in this position. The only exception is when it is followed by a nominalized adjective:

  Wer Neues ist in die Mannschaft gekommen. – Someone new joined the team.

Declension

Declension of wer
nominative	wer
genitive	wessen or (dated) wes
dative	wem
accusative	wen

Coordinate terms

• was

Derived terms

Derived terms

• irgendwer
• wer da
• Werdaruf
• Werfall
• Wemfall
• Wenfall

Further reading

• “wer” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• Friedrich Kluge (1883) “wer”, in John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891

Hunsrik

Alternative forms

• weer (Wiesemann spelling system)

Etymology

From Middle High German and Old High German wer, from Proto-West Germanic *hwaʀ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɛɐ̯/

Pronoun

wer

1. (interrogative) who

   Wer kommd dart?

   Who goes there?

   Wer sihst-du?

   Who do you see?

See also

• wem

Further reading

• Online Hunsrik Dictionary

Kuri

Noun

wer

1. water

References

• Cornelis L. Voorhoeve, Languages of Irian Jaya Checklist (1975, Canberra: Pacific Linguistics), page 123

Meriam

Noun

wer

1. egg
2. testicle
3. star

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English wer, from Proto-West Germanic *wer, from Proto-Germanic *weraz, from Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós; compare Old Norse verr, Latin vir, Old Prussian wijrs, Sanskrit वीर (vīra).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wɛr/

Noun

wer (plural wers)

1. a man, a husband

Synonyms

• husbonde, mon

Antonyms

• wif (with respect to gender)

Related terms

• werwolf
• world

Descendants

• English: wer, were

Etymology 2

Verb

wer

1. Alternative form of were

Etymology 3

Noun

wer

1. Alternative form of werre (“war”)

Etymology 4

Adjective

wer

1. Alternative form of werre (“worse”)

Adverb

wer

1. Alternative form of werre (“worse”)

Noun

wer

1. Alternative form of werre (“worse”)

Etymology 5

Noun

wer

1. Alternative form of wyr (“wire”)

Middle High German

Alternative forms

• wie, wē (northern)

Etymology

From Old High German wer.

Pronoun

wër

1. who

Declension

Declension of wër
nominative	wër
genitive	wës
dative	wëm, wëme
accusative	wën

Related terms

• waz (“what”)

Descendants

• Central Franconian: wä
• Cimbrian: bèar, ber (Luserna)
• German: wer
• Yiddish: ווער (ver)

Ndom

Noun

wer

1. water

References

• Oceanic linguistics, volumes 20 à 21, University Press of Hawaii, page 129, 1981

Northern Kurdish

Adverb

wer

1. so

Old English

Alternative forms

• wær

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wer/

Etymology 1

From Proto-West Germanic *wer, from Proto-Germanic *weraz.

Germanic cognates include Old Frisian, Old Saxon, Old High German wer, Old Norse verr, Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂 (wair). The Indo-European root is also the source of Latin vir, Sanskrit वीर (vīrà), Old Irish fer, Lithuanian výras.

Noun

wer m

1. man
   • 10th century, The Wanderer:

     forþon ne mæġ wearþan wīs · wer, ǣr hē āge
     wintra dǣl in woruldrīċe. · Wita sċeal ġeþyldiġ.

     thus a man cannot become wise, before he would own
     a part of years in world-kingdom. A wise man must be patient.

2. male
   • c. 995, Ælfric, Extracts on Grammar in English

     Ǣġþer is mann ġe wer ġe wīf.

     A person is either a male or a female.

3. husband
4. (poetic) hero, warrior
5. (in compounds) civil

   werrēaf ― civil dress, civil clothing

   werþēod ― people, nation

Declension

Strong a-stem:

	singular	plural
nominative	wer	weras
accusative	wer	weras
genitive	weres	wera
dative	were	werum

Synonyms

• (man): beorn (poetic), guma (poetic), hæleþ, mann (rare or non-literary), mæċġ, rinc (poetic), seċġ (poetic)

Antonyms

• wif (with respect to sex)

Derived terms

• weorold
• werewulf
• werlīċ
• werġield

 

Descendants

• Middle English: wer
  • English: wer, were

Etymology 2

From werian.

Noun

wer m (nominative plural weras)

1. weir

Descendants

• Middle English: were
  • English: weir

Old High German

Alternative forms

• ƿer — Manuscript form

Etymology 1

From Proto-West Germanic *wer, from Proto-Germanic *weraz, from Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós. Cognate with Old English wer and Old Norse verr.

Noun

wer m

1. man

Derived terms

• weralt
• werwulf

Etymology 2

From Proto-Germanic *warją, likely related to the verb *warjaną (“to defend”), as in a fortification against water.

Noun

wer n

1. dam, weir

Descendants

• German: Wehr
• Italian: gora

Etymology 3

From Proto-West Germanic *hwaʀ, from Proto-Germanic *hwaz. Cognate with Old Norse hverr.

Pronoun

wer

1. (interrogative) who

   Wer war er?

   Who was he?

   • Hildebrandslied, ll. 7-9

     hıltıbrant gımahalta herıbranteſ ſunu her uuaſ heroro man
     feraheſ frotoro • her fragen gıſtuont
     fohem uuortum • ƿer ſin fater ƿarı […]

     Hildebrand spoke, Heribrand's son—he was a hoarier man, wiser of life;—he posed his question with few words, who his [Hadubrand's] father might be […]

Related terms

• waz (“what”)

Descendants

• Middle High German: wër, wie, wē (northern)
  • Central Franconian: wä
  • Cimbrian: bèar, ber (Luserna)
  • German: wer
  • Yiddish: ווער (ver)

Old Saxon

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *wer, from Proto-Germanic *weraz, from Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós. Cognate with Old English wer and Old Norse verr.

Noun

wer m

1. man
2. hero

Declension

Declension of wer (masculine a-stem)

	singular	plural
nominative	wer	weros
accusative	wer	weros
genitive	weres	werō
dative	were	werum
instrumental	—	—

Derived terms

• werold
• werwulf

Descendants

• warwulf
• werld

Pennsylvania German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /væːɐ/

Pronoun

wer

1. who

Selaru

Noun

wer

1. water

References

• Blust's Austronesian Comparative Dictionary

Tocharian B

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

wer ?

1. hatred, enmity

Yola

Noun

wer

1. Alternative form of were (“wearing”)

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 77