werewolf

American  

[wair-woolf, weer-, wur-] / ˈwɛərˌwʊlf, ˈwɪər-, ˈwɜr- /

Or werwolf

noun

plural

werewolves

1. (in folklore and superstition) a human being who has changed into a wolf, or is capable of assuming the form of a wolf, while retaining human intelligence.

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werewolf British  

/ ˈwɛə-, ˈwɪəˌwʊlf /

noun

1. a person fabled in folklore and superstition to have been changed into a wolf by being bewitched or said to be able to assume wolf form at will

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Etymology

Origin of werewolf

before 1000; Middle English werwolf, Old English werwulf, equivalent to wer man (cognate with Gothic wair, Latin vir ) + wulf wolf; cognate with Middle Dutch weerwolf, Old High German werwolf

Example Sentences

Robert Eggers calls his upcoming medieval werewolf movie the “darkest thing I have ever written, by far.”

From Los Angeles Times

Try clipping them to the cuff of your shoes to mimic werewolf legs.

From Salon

Brandy Carlton, one of Torres’s first customers, buys the biggest package every year and sometimes incorporates a theme like werewolves or skeletons into the design.

From The Wall Street Journal

Renowned as a queen of literary horror — her stories brim with ghosts, werewolves, zombie infants — here she reveals a realist side, journalistic yet intimate.

From Los Angeles Times

For four days after returning from Epic Universe, my most lingering memories are not a ride vehicle or an animatronic, but chatting about werewolves with an actor in a bar and touching a purring dragon.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• behemoth
• freak
• giant
• whale