wolf
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wolf¹
- /wʊlf/ UK
- /wʊlf/ US
- [wʊɫf] US
- [wɵɫf] US
- [wʟ̩ːf] Southern US
- /wʊlf/ New Zealand
- [wʊwf] New Zealand
- /wʉlf/ Northern Ireland, Scotland
- /wʊf/
- /wʌlf/
Rhymes with -ʊlf
Where it comes from
Inherited from Middle English wolf, from Old English wulf, ƿulf, from Proto-West Germanic *wulf, from Proto-Germanic *wulfaz, from Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥kʷos. Doublet of lobo and lupus.
Cognates
Cognate with Scots wouf, North Frisian wulew, Saterland Frisian and German Low German Wulf, West Frisian, Alemannic German, and Dutch wolf, Bavarian bolf, bölf, Woif, Cimbrian and Mòcheno bolf, German Wolf, Luxembourgish Wollef, Vilamovian wuf, Yiddish וואָלף (volf), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk ulv, Faroese úlvur, Icelandic úlfur, Swedish ulf, ulv, Gothic 𐍅𐌿𐌻𐍆𐍃 (wulfs); also Irish and Scottish Gaelic olc (“bad, evil”), Lepontic 𐌖𐌋𐌊𐌏𐌔 (ulkos), Manx olk (“bad”), Sanskrit वृक (vṛ́ka), Persian گرگ (gorg), Latgalian vylks, Latvian vìlks, Lithuanian vilkas, Belarusian воўк (vowk), Bulgarian вълк (vălk), Czech and Slovak vlk, Macedonian and Russian волк (volk), Polish wilk, Serbo-Croatian вук, vuk, Slovene volk, Ukrainian вовк (vovk), Albanian ujk, ulk, Latin lupus, Greek λύκος (lýkos), Hittite 𒉿𒀠𒆪𒉿𒀸, Lydian 𐤥𐤠𐤩𐤥𐤤 (walwe, “lion”), Tocharian B walkwe.
noun wolves
-
Canis lupus; the largest wild member of the canine subfamily.
He would listen quietly at meetings of the Politburo, or to distinguished visitors, puffing at his Dunhill pipe, doodling aimlessly - his secretaries Poskrebyshev and Dvinsky write that his pads were sometimes covered with the phrase ‘Lenin-teacher-friend’, but the last foreigner to visit him, in Fe
Similar: grey wolf
-
Any of several related canines that resemble Canis lupus in appearance, especially those of the genus Canis.
Similar: grey wolf
- A man who makes amorous advances to many women.
- A wolf tone or wolf note. The soft violin solo was marred by persistent wolves.
- Any very ravenous, rapacious, or destructive person or thing; especially, want; starvation. They toiled hard to keep the wolf from the door.
- One of the destructive, and usually hairy, larvae of several species of beetles and grain moths.
- A white worm which infests granaries, the larva of Nemapogon granella, a tineid moth.
- A wolf spider (Lycosidae spp.).
- An eating ulcer or sore. See lupus. If God should send a cancer upon thy face, or a wolf into thy side
- A willying machine, that uses willow twigs to cleanse wool. The loosening and purifying of the raw cotton from the various impurities , such as sand, grit, &c., is accomplished by beating with the hand, or by the Wolf machine, by means of a cylinder, the surface of which is covered with sharp iron teeth
verb wolfs · wolfing · wolfed · wolve
- To devour; to gobble; to eat (something) voraciously. "Here's these legal ferrets has got our Puddin' in their clutches, and here's us, spellbound with anguish, watchin' them wolfin' it."
- To make amorous advances to many women; to hit on women; to cruise for sex. [1940s Chicago punk:] ‘I’ve seen a thing or two in my time,’ he still liked to boast, ‘that was how I found out the best place for wolfin’ ain’t the taverns. It ain’t in dance halls ’r on North Clark on Saturday night. It’s in the front row in Sunday school on Sunday mornin’. Oh yeh, I know a thing
- To hunt for wolves.
Wolf²
Where it comes from
From wolf.
proper noun
- The constellation Lupus.
Wolf³
Where it comes from
From Middle English and German short forms of given names containing the Germanic element "wolf".
proper noun Wolfs
- A surname transferred from the given name. Until recently, Naomi Wolf was best known for her 1990s feminist blockbuster The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women, which argued that the tyranny of grooming standards—all that plucking and waxing—was a form of backlash against women’s rights.
- A male given name.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: wildcat, beast, wolf down, masher, skirt chaser, savage, brute, woman chaser, coyote, buck, lion, lobo, tiger, werewolf, wolffish, mask
Translations
Every language
noun animal
| Español | lobo |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 늑대 neukdae, 이리 iri |
| 日本語 | 狼 ōkami, オオカミ ōkami, ウルフ urufu |
| 中文 | 狼 láng |
| हिन्दी | भेड़िया bheṛiyā, वृक vŕk |
| Kiswahili | mbwa mwitu |
| Português | lobo |
| Français | loup |
| Deutsch | Wolf, Meister Graubein |
| Italiano | lupo |
| Ελληνικά | λύκος lýkos |
| Română | lup |
| Русский | волк volk, волчи́ца volčíca |
| Tiếng Việt | sói, chó sói |
| العربية | ذِئْب ḏiʔb |
| עברית | זְאֵב z'év |
noun man who makes amorous advances on many women
| Español | mujeriego |
|---|---|
| Português | mulherengo |
| Français | tombeur |
| Italiano | donnaiolo |
noun unpleasant musical tone
| Français | loup |
|---|
verb to devour
| Español | devorar, engullir |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 게걸스레 먹다 gegeolseure meokda |
| Kiswahili | -akia, -la, -sakata |
| Português | devorar |
| Français | dévorer, engloutir |
| Deutsch | herunterschlingen |
| Italiano | divorare |
| Ελληνικά | καταβροχθίζω katavrochthízo, χλαπακιάζω chlapakiázo |
| Русский | пожира́ть požirátʹ, пожра́ть požrátʹ |
| العربية | اِلْتَهَمَ بِشَرَاهَة iltahama bi-šarāha |
| עברית | זלל zalal |
Talk about this word "wolf." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/wolf. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. wolf. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/wolf "wolf." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/wolf.Cite this
@misc{wolf_2026,
title = {wolf},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/wolf},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
