"were" meaning in Middle English

See were in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

Head templates: {{head|enm|adjective form|altform=1}} were
  1. alternative form of werre (“worse”) Tags: alt-of, alternative Alternative form of: werre (extra: worse)
    Sense id: en-were-enm-adj-ko-ZuzEQ Categories (other): Middle English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of Middle English entries with incorrect language header: 15 15 15 15 11 9 4 16
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 5

Adverb

Head templates: {{head|enm|adverb form|altform=1}} were
  1. alternative form of werre (“worse”) Tags: alt-of, alternative Alternative form of: werre (extra: worse)
    Sense id: en-were-enm-adv-ko-ZuzEQ Categories (other): Middle English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of Middle English entries with incorrect language header: 15 15 15 15 11 9 4 16
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 5

Noun

IPA: /ˈwɛːr(ə)/
Etymology: From weren. Head templates: {{head|enm|noun|g=|g2=|g3=|head=|sort=}} were, {{enm-noun|-}} were (uncountable)
  1. wearing Tags: uncountable
    Sense id: en-were-enm-noun-06qA2uMG Categories (other): Middle English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of Middle English entries with incorrect language header: 15 15 15 15 11 9 4 16
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 2

Noun

Head templates: {{head|enm|noun|altform=1}} were
  1. alternative form of werre (“war”) Tags: alt-of, alternative Alternative form of: werre (extra: war)
    Sense id: en-were-enm-noun-7lyFmefC Categories (other): Middle English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of Middle English entries with incorrect language header: 15 15 15 15 11 9 4 16
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 4

Noun

Head templates: {{head|enm|noun|altform=1}} were
  1. alternative form of werre (“worse”) Tags: alt-of, alternative Alternative form of: werre (extra: worse)
    Sense id: en-were-enm-noun-ko-ZuzEQ Categories (other): Middle English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of Middle English entries with incorrect language header: 15 15 15 15 11 9 4 16
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 5

Verb

IPA: /ˈwɛːr(ə)/, /ˈwɛr(ə)/ Forms: weer [alternative], weere [alternative], wer [alternative], wære [alternative], ware [alternative]
Etymology: Inherited from Old English wǣre (second-person singular indicative and subjunctive past of wesan). Etymology templates: {{yesno||i|I}} I, {{glossary|Inherited}} Inherited, {{inh|enm|ang|wǣre|||g=|g2=|g3=|id=|lit=|nocat=|pos=|sc=|sort=|tr=|ts=}} Old English wǣre, {{inh+|enm|ang|wǣre}} Inherited from Old English wǣre Head templates: {{head|enm|verb form}} were
  1. inflection of been:
    second-person singular indicative past
    Tags: form-of, indicative, past, second-person, singular Form of: been
    Sense id: en-were-enm-verb-8yPZMWLg
  2. inflection of been:
    singular subjunctive past
    Tags: form-of, past, singular, subjunctive Form of: been
    Sense id: en-were-enm-verb-zUTCTSnK
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 1

Verb

Head templates: {{head|enm|verb form|altform=1}} were
  1. alternative form of weren Tags: alt-of, alternative Alternative form of: weren
    Sense id: en-were-enm-verb-zQA-Yxbn Categories (other): Middle English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of Middle English entries with incorrect language header: 15 15 15 15 11 9 4 16
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 3

Alternative forms

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      "links": [
        [
          "werre",
          "werre#Middle_English:_war"
        ],
        [
          "war",
          "war"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "alt-of",
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "were"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "Middle English alternative forms",
    "Middle English entries with incorrect language header",
    "Pages with 15 entries",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_number": 5,
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "adjective form",
        "altform": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "were",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Middle English",
  "lang_code": "enm",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "extra": "worse",
          "word": "werre"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "alternative form of werre (“worse”)"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "werre",
          "werre#Middle_English:_worse"
        ],
        [
          "worse",
          "worse"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "alt-of",
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "were"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "Middle English alternative forms",
    "Middle English entries with incorrect language header",
    "Pages with 15 entries",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_number": 5,
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "adverb form",
        "altform": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "were",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Middle English",
  "lang_code": "enm",
  "pos": "adv",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "extra": "worse",
          "word": "werre"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "alternative form of werre (“worse”)"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "werre",
          "werre#Middle_English:_worse"
        ],
        [
          "worse",
          "worse"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "alt-of",
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "were"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "Middle English alternative forms",
    "Middle English entries with incorrect language header",
    "Pages with 15 entries",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_number": 5,
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "noun",
        "altform": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "were",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Middle English",
  "lang_code": "enm",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "extra": "worse",
          "word": "werre"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "alternative form of werre (“worse”)"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "werre",
          "werre#Middle_English:_worse"
        ],
        [
          "worse",
          "worse"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "alt-of",
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "were"
}

Download raw JSONL data for were meaning in Middle English (6.3kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable Middle English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-01-13 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-01-01 using wiktextract (96027d6 and 9905b1f). 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.