different between wer vs wyer

English

Alternative forms

• were

Etymology

From Middle English wer, were, from Old English wer (“a male being, man, husband, hero”), from Proto-Germanic *weraz (“man”), 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)”).

Noun

wer (plural wers)

1. (obsolete or historical) A man; a male; a husband
   • 1862, E. William Robertson, Scotland Under Her Early Kings, page 137:

     […] 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, […]

   • 1864, Thomas Oswald Cockayne, Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early England [...] from Brit. mus. ms. Cotton. Vitellius C. III, page 205:

     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.

2. (obsolete or historical) A fine for slaying a man; wergeld.
   • 1876, Essays in Anglo-Saxon Law, page 144:

     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.

Related terms

Anagrams

• ERW, Rew, erw, rew

Cornish

Adjective

wer

1. Soft mutation of gwer.

German

Etymology

From Middle High German wer, from Old High German wer, from Proto-West Germanic *hwa?. Related to wo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ve?r/, [ve???], [v???], [?-]
• Homophone: Wehr
• Rhymes: -e???

Pronoun

wer

1. (interrogative) who (what person or people)

2. (interrogative, colloquial) what, which (one) (see usage notes)
3. (relative) whoever, he who, someone who, the person who, anyone who (whatever person or persons)

4. (indefinite, colloquial) somebody, someone; anybody, anyone (an unspecified person)

Usage notes

• (what): In colloquial German, wer and its forms may be used in reference to things. This is often done when asking about a noun whose gender one knows to be masculine or feminine. For example: Kannst du mir mal den Dings rübergeben? – Wen? (“Could you pass me the thingamabob?” – “Pass what?”) In this case, the interrogative mirrors the gender of the noun one asks about.
• (someone): The colloquial wer meaning “someone” cannot usually be the first word in a main clause, because it could be misinterpreted as an interrogative in this position. The only exception is when it is followed by a nominalized adjective:

  Wer Neues ist in die Mannschaft gekommen. – Someone new joined the team.

Declension

• N: wer
• G: wessen (now poetic wes)
• D: wem
• A: wen

Synonyms

• (indefinite, colloquial): jemand, einer

Coordinate terms

• was

Derived terms

Further reading

• “wer” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• Friedrich Kluge (1883) , “wer”, in John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891

Hunsrik

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *hwaz, from Proto-Indo-European *k?is.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?v???/

Pronoun

wer

1. (interrogative) who

See also

• wem

Further reading

• Online Hunsrik Dictionary

Kuri

Noun

wer

1. water

References

• Cornelis L. Voorhoeve, Languages of Irian Jaya Checklist (1975, Canberra: Pacific Linguistics), page 123

Meriam

Noun

wer

1. egg
2. testicle
3. star

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English wer, from Proto-Germanic *weraz, from Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós; compare Old Norse verr, Latin vir, Old Prussian wijrs, Sanskrit ??? (v?ra).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /w?r/

Noun

wer (plural wers)

1. a man, a husband

Synonyms

• husbonde, mon

Related terms

• werwolf
• world

Antonyms

• wif (with respect to gender)

Descendants

• English: wer, were

Etymology 2

From Old English w?re.

Verb

wer

1. Alternative form of were

Etymology 3

From Late Old English werre, wyrre (“war”).

Noun

wer

1. Alternative form of werre (“war”)

Ndom

Noun

wer

1. water

References

• Oceanic linguistics, volumes 20 à 21, University Press of Hawaii, page 129, 1981

Northern Kurdish

Adverb

wer

1. so

Old English

Alternative forms

• wær

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wer/

Etymology 1

From Proto-Germanic *weraz, from Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós (“freeman”). Germanic cognates include Old Frisian, Old Saxon, Old High German wer, Old Norse verr, Gothic ???????????????? (wair). The Proto-Indo-European root is also the source of Latin vir, Sanskrit ??? (v?rá), Old Irish fer, Welsh g?r), Lithuanian výras.

Noun

wer m

1. man
2. husband
3. (poetic) hero, warrior
4. (in compounds) civil

Declension

Synonyms

• (man): beorn (poetic), guma (poetic), hæleþ, mann (rare or non-literary), mæ??, rinc (poetic), se?? (poetic)

Antonyms

• wif (with respect to gender)

Derived terms

Descendants

• Middle English: wer
  • English: wer, were

Etymology 2

From werian.

Noun

wer m (nominative plural weras)

1. weir

Old High German

Etymology 1

From Proto-West Germanic *wer, from Proto-Germanic *weraz, from Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós. Cognate with Old English wer and Old Norse verr.

Noun

wer m

1. man

Derived terms

• weralt
• werwulf

Etymology 2

From Proto-Germanic *warj?

Noun

wer n

1. dam, weir

Descendants

• German: Wehr
• Italian: gora

Old Saxon

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *wer, from Proto-Germanic *weraz, from Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós. Cognate with Old English wer and Old Norse verr.

Noun

wer m

1. man
2. hero

Declension

Derived terms

• werold
• werwulf

Descendants

• warwulf
• werld

Selaru

Noun

wer

1. water

References

• Blust's Austronesian Comparative Dictionary

Tocharian B

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

wer ?

1. hatred, enmity

English

Noun

wyer

1. Obsolete form of weir.
2. Obsolete form of wire.

Anagrams

• Wyre, ewry, wery, wyre

Yola

Noun

wyer

1. weasel

References

• Jacob Poole (1867) , William Barnes, editor, A glossary, with some pieces of verse, of the old dialect of the English colony in the baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, J. Russell Smith, ?ISBN