different between were vs werre

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English were, weren, from Old English w?re, w?ron, w?ren, from Proto-Germanic *w?z-, from Proto-Indo-European *h?wes-. More at was.

Pronunciation

stressed

• (UK) enPR: wûr, IPA^(key): /w??(?)/
• (UK, regional) enPR: wâr, IPA^(key): /w??(?)/
• (US) enPR: wûr, IPA^(key): /w?/
• Rhymes: -??(?)
• Homophone: whirr (in accents with the wine-whine merger)

unstressed

• (UK) enPR: w?r, IPA^(key): /w?(?)/
• (US) enPR: w?r, IPA^(key): /w?/

Verb

were

1. second-person singular simple past indicative of be

2. first/second/third-person plural simple past indicative of be

3. first/second/third-person singular/plural simple present/past subjunctive of be

   I wish that it were Sunday.

   I wish that I were with you.

   • with “if” omitted, put first in an “if” clause:

     Were it simply that she wore a hat, I would not be upset at all. (= If it were simply...)

     Were father a king, we would have war. (= If father were a king,...)
4. (Northern England) first/third-person singular simple past indicative of be.

Synonyms

• (second-person singular past indicative, archaic) wast (used with “thou”)
• (second-person singular imperfect subjunctive, archaic) wert (used with “thou”)

See also

Etymology 2

From Middle English were, wer, see wer.

Noun

were (plural weres)

1. Alternative form of wer (“man; wergeld”)
   • 1799-1805, Sharon Trurner, History of the Anglo-Saxons

     Every man was valued at a certain sum, which was called his were.

   • 1867, John Lingard, T. Young, Introduction to English History [...] arranged [...] by T. Young, page 19:

     If by that he failed to pay or give security for the were, or fine, at which murder was legally rated; he might be put to death by the relatives of the murdered man.

   • 1908, Frederic Jesup Stimson, The Law of the Federal and State Constitutions of the United States, page 13:

     Written statutes busied themselves only with the amount of the were, or fine, or (for the first century after the Conquest) with the method of procedure.

Etymology 3

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

Noun

were (plural weres)

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

Anagrams

• Ewer, ewer, ewre, rewe, weer

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -e?r?

Verb

were

1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of weren

Anagrams

• weer

Fijian

Noun

were

1. garden

Verb

were (wereca)

1. to garden, to weed (wereca specifically)

Irarutu

Etymology

From Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *wai?, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahi?.

Noun

were

1. water (clear liquid H?O)

Further reading

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

Maku'a

Noun

were

1. water

References

• Aone van Engelenhoven, The position of Makuva among the Austronesian languages of Southwest Maluku and East Timor, in Austronesian historical linguistics and culture history: a festschrift, Pacific linguistics 601 (2009)

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English w?re (second-person singular indicative and subjunctive past of wesan).

Alternative forms

• weer, weere, wer, wære

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?w??r(?)/, /?w?r(?)/

Verb

were

1. inflection of been:
   1. second-person singular indicative past
   2. singular subjunctive past

Descendants

• English: were (dialectal war, ware)
• Scots: war, waar, ware, waur, wur, wir

Etymology 2

From a conflation of Old English w?ron and Old English w?ren.

Verb

were

1. Alternative form of weren

Etymology 3

From Old English werre, wyrre.

Noun

were

1. Alternative form of werre

Mwani

Noun

were 5 (plural mawere)

1. breast

Northern Kurdish

Verb

were

1. second-person singular imperative of hatin

Onin

Etymology

From Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *wai?, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahi?.

Noun

were

1. water (clear liquid H?O)

Tocharian B

Noun

were ?

1. smell, odor, scent, aroma

Toro

Noun

were

1. day

References

• Roger Blench, The Toro language of Central Nigeria and its affinities (2012)

Uruangnirin

Etymology

From Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *wai?, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahi?.

Noun

were

1. water (clear liquid H?O)

English

Noun

werre (countable and uncountable, plural werres)

1. Obsolete form of war.

Hunsrik

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?v?r?/

Verb

werre

1. They will

Further reading

• Online Hunsrik Dictionary

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English werre, wyrre, borrowed from Old Northern French werre, from Medieval Latin werra, borrowed from Frankish *werru (“confusion; quarrel”).

Alternative forms

• weorre, worre, were, ware, wær, weer, weyr, werr, wer

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?w?r(?)/, /?w??r(?)/
• (Late ME) IPA^(key): /war/

Noun

werre (plural werres or (rare) werren)

1. War in general; the practice of fighting between two opposing forces:
   1. A military conflict or war; a conflict between two opposing forces.
   2. A battle; an instance of conflict between two opposing forces or people.
   3. (rare) An uprising or revolution; an attempt to overthrow authorities.
2. A religious or moral dispute or conflict; a fight with a higher power.
3. Quarreling, disputation, struggling; lack of harmony.
4. A joust, tourney or tilting; an equestrian conflict for sport.
5. (rare) A localised instance of invasion, harassment or intrusion.
6. (rare) The struggling caused by one's quarry while hunting.
7. (rare) A combative or quarrelsome attitude.

Related terms

• werren
• werrely
• werryng
• werreyen
• werreour
• werrour

Descendants

• English: war
• Scots: wer, weir, war

References

• “wer(re, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-01-22.

Etymology 2

Verb

werre

1. Alternative form of werren