wolf

B2 Topic:Animals

US /wʊlf/ UK /wʊlf/ See IPA manual

Freq #2343

Meanings

1

noun
A large wild animal of the dog family that hunts in groups.

A lone wolf howled somewhere out in the forest.
2

verb
To eat something very quickly and greedily.

The hungry teenager wolfed down his pizza in minutes.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a large wild animal of the... grey wolf

2 verb · to eat something very... wolf downgulp down

More loaferloboloferloperlover

Word family

Forms wolfedwolfingwolfishwolfishlywolflikewolfswolves

Derived forms aard-wolfaardwolfhe-wolfman-wolfmer-wolfseawolfshe-wolfwere-wolfwerewolfwher-wolfwolf-catwolf-child

Related forms wolfewolffwolffe

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

gray wolf
a large wild member of the dog family with a typically gray or gray-brown coat

Adjective + noun

Idioms (3)

See all

Simplified etymology

Wolf is an Old English word descended from an Indo-European root that also produced Greek lukos and Latin lupus. The Latin form is the source of lupine, while the Greek form appears in lycanthropy.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *wl̥kʷós? Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥kʷos Proto-Germanic *wulfaz Proto-West Germanic *wulf Old English wulf Middle English wolf English wolf 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, V…

wolf Middle English wulf Old English *wulf Proto-West Germanic *wulfaz Proto-Germanic *wĺ̥kʷos Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Animals

External links

# wolf

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /wʊlf/
**IPA (UK):** /wʊlf/
**Frequency rank:** 2343

## Meanings
1. A large wild animal of the dog family that hunts in groups.
2. To eat something very quickly and greedily.

## Examples
- A lone wolf howled somewhere out in the forest.
- The hungry teenager wolfed down his pizza in minutes.

## Synonyms
- loafer
- lobo
- lofer
- loper
- lover

## Derived Forms
- aard-wolf
- aardwolf
- he-wolf
- man-wolf
- mer-wolf
- seawolf
- she-wolf
- were-wolf
- werewolf
- wher-wolf
- wolf-cat
- wolf-child

## Related Forms
- wolfe
- wolff
- wolffe

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: wolf
- Root: wulf
- Root: *wulf
- Root: *wulfaz
- Root: *wĺ̥kʷos

## Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *wl̥kʷós? Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥kʷos Proto-Germanic *wulfaz Proto-West Germanic *wulf Old English wulf Middle English wolf English wolf 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, V…

## AI Etymology
Wolf: The etymological chain runs Proto-Indo-European *wl̥kʷós? -> Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥kʷos -> Proto-Germanic *wulfaz -> Proto-West Germanic *wulf -> Old English wulf -> Middle English wolf -> English wolf. 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. Important historical forms include Middle English wolf, Old English wulf, Proto-West Germanic *wulf, Proto-Germanic *wulfaz, and Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥kʷos. In present-day use, it can mean a large wild animal of the dog family that hunts in groups, or to eat something very quickly and greedily.

## Topics
- Animals

markdown