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were

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were¹

  • /wə(ɹ)/ UK
  • /wɜː/ UK
  • /wɛː/ UK
  • /wɜː(ɹ)/ UK
  • /weː/ UK
  • /wɔː/ UK
  • /wɛr/ UK
  • /wɚ/ US
  • /wɝ/ US
  • /wøː/ New Zealand
  • /wɑːɹ/ Ireland

Sounds like we're, whirr (wine–whine merger, fern–fir–fur merger), ware (fair–fur merger), where (fair–fur merger, wine–whine merger) · Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ), -ɛr

Where it comes from

Inherited from Middle English were, weren, from Old English wǣre, wǣron, wǣren, from Proto-West Germanic *wāʀun, *wāʀīn, from Proto-Germanic *wēzun, *wēzīn, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wes-. More at was.

verb ware · weare

  1. indicative, past, second person, singular second-person singular simple past indicative of be John, you were the only person to see him.
  2. indicative, past, plural plural simple past indicative of be We were about to leave.
  3. simple subjunctive of be I wish that it were Sunday.
  4. Ireland, Multicultural London English, Northern England, first person, indicative, past first/third-person singular simple past indicative of be

Similar: wast, wert

were²

Where it comes from

Inherited from Middle English were, wer, see wer.

noun weres

  1. alternative Alternative form of wer (“man; wergeld”). 1799-1805, Sharon Turner, History of the Anglo-Saxons Every man was valued at a certain sum, which was called his were.

were³

Where it comes from

Back-formation from werewolf and other terms in were-, from the same source as English wer, were (“man”) (above).

noun weres

  1. slang The collective name for any kind of person that changes into another form under certain conditions, including the werewolf.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: thought, correspond, said, considered, used, experienced, worked, how, looked, include, focused, needed, received, noted, varied, respectively

verb

Similar: wast, wert

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Cite this
MLA

"were." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/were. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

were. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/were

Chicago

"were." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/were.

BibTeX
@misc{were_2026,
  title = {were},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/were},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}