"wer" meaning in English

See wer in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: wers [plural]
Etymology: 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)”). Etymology templates: {{inh|en|enm|wer}} Middle English wer, {{inh|en|ang|wer|t=man}} Old English wer (“man”), {{inh|en|gmw-pro|*wer}} Proto-West Germanic *wer, {{inh|en|gem-pro|*weraz}} Proto-Germanic *weraz, {{inh|en|ine-pro|*wiHrós||man, freeman}} Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós (“man, freeman”), {{cog|gmh|wër||man}} Middle High German wër (“man”), {{cog|sv|värbror||brother-in-law}} Swedish värbror (“brother-in-law”), {{cog|no|verfader||father-in-law}} Norwegian verfader (“father-in-law”), {{cog|la|vir||man, husband}} Latin vir (“man, husband”), {{cog|sga|fer}} Old Irish fer, {{cog|wlm|gwr}} Middle Welsh gwr Head templates: {{en-noun}} wer (plural wers)
  1. (obsolete or historical) A man; a male; a husband Tags: historical, obsolete
    Sense id: en-wer-en-noun-Qg6iu3Hg
  2. (obsolete or historical) A fine for slaying a man; wergeld. Tags: historical, obsolete
    Sense id: en-wer-en-noun-3aWS9MgZ Categories (other): English links with manual fragments, English links with redundant alt parameters, English links with redundant wikilinks Disambiguation of English links with manual fragments: 28 72 Disambiguation of English links with redundant alt parameters: 8 92 Disambiguation of English links with redundant wikilinks: 8 92
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: were Related terms: were, were-, werewolf, wergeld, world
Etymology number: 1

Verb

Head templates: {{head|en|verb form}} wer
  1. Eye dialect spelling of were. Tags: alt-of, pronunciation-spelling Alternative form of: were
    Sense id: en-wer-en-verb-HLbhUz8F Categories (other): English eye dialect, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 18 entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 4 11 85 Disambiguation of Pages with 18 entries: 1 4 17 1 1 2 8 1 2 1 4 6 15 2 3 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 10 1 1
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 2

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_number": 1,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "wer"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English wer",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "wer",
        "t": "man"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English wer (“man”)",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gmw-pro",
        "3": "*wer"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-West Germanic *wer",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gem-pro",
        "3": "*weraz"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Germanic *weraz",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*wiHrós",
        "4": "",
        "5": "man, freeman"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós (“man, freeman”)",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "gmh",
        "2": "wër",
        "3": "",
        "4": "man"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle High German wër (“man”)",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sv",
        "2": "värbror",
        "3": "",
        "4": "brother-in-law"
      },
      "expansion": "Swedish värbror (“brother-in-law”)",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "no",
        "2": "verfader",
        "3": "",
        "4": "father-in-law"
      },
      "expansion": "Norwegian verfader (“father-in-law”)",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "la",
        "2": "vir",
        "3": "",
        "4": "man, husband"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin vir (“man, husband”)",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sga",
        "2": "fer"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Irish fer",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "wlm",
        "2": "gwr"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle Welsh gwr",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "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”).\nCognate 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)”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "wers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "wer (plural wers)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "were"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "were-"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "werewolf"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "wergeld"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "world"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1862, E. William Robertson, Scotland Under Her Early Kings, page 137:",
          "text": "[…]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, […]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1864, Thomas Oswald Cockayne, Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early England … from Brit. mus. ms. Cotton. Vitellius C. III, page 205:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A man; a male; a husband"
      ],
      "id": "en-wer-en-noun-Qg6iu3Hg",
      "links": [
        [
          "man",
          "man"
        ],
        [
          "male",
          "male"
        ],
        [
          "husband",
          "husband"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete or historical) A man; a male; a husband"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "historical",
        "obsolete"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "28 72",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English links with manual fragments",
          "parents": [
            "Links with manual fragments",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "8 92",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English links with redundant alt parameters",
          "parents": [
            "Links with redundant alt parameters",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "8 92",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English links with redundant wikilinks",
          "parents": [
            "Links with redundant wikilinks",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1876, Essays in Anglo-Saxon Law, page 144:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "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:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A fine for slaying a man; wergeld."
      ],
      "id": "en-wer-en-noun-3aWS9MgZ",
      "links": [
        [
          "fine",
          "fine"
        ],
        [
          "slay",
          "slay"
        ],
        [
          "wergeld",
          "wergeld"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete or historical) A fine for slaying a man; wergeld."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "historical",
        "obsolete"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "were"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "were"
  ],
  "word": "wer"
}

{
  "etymology_number": 2,
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "verb form"
      },
      "expansion": "wer",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "word": "were"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English eye dialect",
          "parents": [
            "Eye dialect",
            "Nonstandard forms",
            "Terms by orthographic property",
            "Nonstandard terms",
            "Terms by lexical property",
            "Terms by usage"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "4 11 85",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "1 4 17 1 1 2 8 1 2 1 4 6 15 2 3 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 10 1 1",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 18 entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Eye dialect spelling of were."
      ],
      "id": "en-wer-en-verb-HLbhUz8F",
      "links": [
        [
          "were",
          "were#English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "alt-of",
        "pronunciation-spelling"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "wer"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English links with manual fragments",
    "English links with redundant alt parameters",
    "English links with redundant wikilinks",
    "English non-lemma forms",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms derived from Middle English",
    "English terms derived from Old English",
    "English terms derived from Proto-Germanic",
    "English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European",
    "English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic",
    "English terms inherited from Middle English",
    "English terms inherited from Old English",
    "English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic",
    "English terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European",
    "English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic",
    "English verb forms",
    "Pages with 18 entries",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_number": 1,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "wer"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English wer",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "wer",
        "t": "man"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English wer (“man”)",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gmw-pro",
        "3": "*wer"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-West Germanic *wer",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gem-pro",
        "3": "*weraz"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Germanic *weraz",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*wiHrós",
        "4": "",
        "5": "man, freeman"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós (“man, freeman”)",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "gmh",
        "2": "wër",
        "3": "",
        "4": "man"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle High German wër (“man”)",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sv",
        "2": "värbror",
        "3": "",
        "4": "brother-in-law"
      },
      "expansion": "Swedish värbror (“brother-in-law”)",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "no",
        "2": "verfader",
        "3": "",
        "4": "father-in-law"
      },
      "expansion": "Norwegian verfader (“father-in-law”)",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "la",
        "2": "vir",
        "3": "",
        "4": "man, husband"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin vir (“man, husband”)",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sga",
        "2": "fer"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Irish fer",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "wlm",
        "2": "gwr"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle Welsh gwr",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "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”).\nCognate 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)”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "wers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "wer (plural wers)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "were"
    },
    {
      "word": "were-"
    },
    {
      "word": "werewolf"
    },
    {
      "word": "wergeld"
    },
    {
      "word": "world"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with historical senses",
        "English terms with obsolete senses",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1862, E. William Robertson, Scotland Under Her Early Kings, page 137:",
          "text": "[…]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, […]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1864, Thomas Oswald Cockayne, Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early England … from Brit. mus. ms. Cotton. Vitellius C. III, page 205:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A man; a male; a husband"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "man",
          "man"
        ],
        [
          "male",
          "male"
        ],
        [
          "husband",
          "husband"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete or historical) A man; a male; a husband"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "historical",
        "obsolete"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with historical senses",
        "English terms with obsolete senses",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1876, Essays in Anglo-Saxon Law, page 144:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "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:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A fine for slaying a man; wergeld."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "fine",
          "fine"
        ],
        [
          "slay",
          "slay"
        ],
        [
          "wergeld",
          "wergeld"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete or historical) A fine for slaying a man; wergeld."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "historical",
        "obsolete"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "were"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "were"
  ],
  "word": "wer"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English non-lemma forms",
    "English verb forms",
    "Pages with 18 entries",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_number": 2,
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "verb form"
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      "expansion": "wer",
      "name": "head"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "word": "were"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English eye dialect"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Eye dialect spelling of were."
      ],
      "links": [
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        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "alt-of",
        "pronunciation-spelling"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "wer"
}

Download raw JSONL data for wer meaning in English (6.0kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (8a39820 and 4401a4c). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.