werewolf

English

Alternative forms

• werwolf, were-wolf, were wolf, wehrwolf, warwolf

Etymology

From Middle English werwolf, from Old English werwulf, from Proto-Germanic *werawulfaz, from Proto-Germanic *weraz (“man”) + *wulfaz (“wolf”). Equivalent to wer +‎ wolf or 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”) (from Germanic).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwɛːwʊlf/, /ˈwɪəwʊlf/
• IPA^(key): /ˈwɛəɹwʊlf/, /ˈwɪəɹwʊlf/, /ˈwɜɹwʊlf/

Noun

werewolf (plural werewolves)

1. (mythology) A person who is transformed or can transform into a wolf or a wolflike human, often said to transform during a full moon.

Synonyms

• wolfman
• lycanthrope
• man-wolf

Hyponyms

• wolfwoman

Derived terms

• werewolfdom
• werewolfish

Translations

wolflike human

• Albanian: luqerbull (sq) m
• Arabic: مُسْتَذِئْب (mustaḏiʔb)
• Armenian: մարդագայլ (hy) (mardagayl)
• Belarusian: ваўкала́к m (vaŭkalák)
• Breton: den-bleiz
• Bulgarian: въркола́к (bg) m (vǎrkolák)
• Catalan: home llop m, licantrop m
• Chinese:

  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 (bheṛiyāmānav), भड़मानस (bhaṛmānas), वेरवुल्फ़ (vervulf)
• Hungarian: farkasember, vérfarkas
• Icelandic: varúlfur (is)
• Ido: volfohomo (io)
• Indonesian: manusia serigala
• Irish: conriocht m, fearolc m
• Italian: licantropo (it) m, lupo mannaro, uomo-lupo
• Japanese: 狼男 (おおかみおとこ, ōkamiotoko), 人狼 (じんろう, jinrō), 狼人 (ろうじん, rōjin)
• Korean: 늑대인간 (ko) (neukdaein'gan)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latgalian: vylkataks m, vylkatece f
• Latin: versipellis m, lycanthropus m, lupinotuum m
• Latvian: vilkacis, vilkatis, vilkateks, kadars
• Limburgish: waerwouf
• 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
• Mongolian: хүн чоно (xün čono)
• Norman: ouothou m (Jersey)
• Norwegian: varulv m
• Persian: گرگینه (fa) (gorgine)
• Polish: wilkołak (pl) m, likantrop m
• Portuguese: lobisomem (pt) m, licantropo m
• Romanian: pricolici (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: vukòdlak (sh) m
• Slovak: vlkolak (sk) m
• Slovene: volkodlak (sl)
• Spanish: hombre lobo (es) m, licántropo (es) m, lobisón m
• Swahili: nusumbwa, mtu-mbwa
• Swedish: varulv (sv) c
• Thai: มนุษย์หมาป่า (th) (má-nút-mǎa-bpàa)
• Turkish: kurt adam, erbörü
• Ukrainian: вовкула́ка m (vovkuláka)
• Vietnamese: người sói, ma sói
• Volapük: lükantropan, lupamen, menalupan
• Walloon: leu-waerou (wa), waerleu (wa)
• Welsh: bleidd-ddyn

See also

• turnskin
• were-
• werebear
• dogman

• wereboar
• wererat
• weretiger