different between werewolf vs shapeshifter

English

Alternative forms

• werwolf, were-wolf, were wolf, wehrwolf, warwolf

Etymology

From Middle English werwolf, from Old English werwulf, from Proto-West Germanic *werawulf, from Proto-West Germanic *wer (“man”) + *wulf (“wolf”). Equivalent to wer +? wolf or were- +? wolf. Cognate with Dutch weerwolf, Low German Warwulf, German Werwolf, Danish varulv, Swedish varulv and even possibly Finnish vironsusi.

Compare also French garou, in loup-garou, French dialectal gairou, varou (“werewolf”), Medieval Latin gerulphus, garulphus (“werewolf”) (from Germanic).

Pronunciation

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

Noun

werewolf (plural werewolves)

1. (mythology) A person who is transformed or can transform into a wolf or a wolflike human, often said to transform during a full moon.

   Synonyms: wolfman, lycanthrope, man-wolf

Hyponyms

• (female): werewolfess, werewoman, wolfwoman

Derived terms

• werewolfdom
• werewolfish

Translations

See also

• dogman
• turnskin
• were-

English

Alternative forms

• shape-shifter

Etymology

shape +? shifter

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /??e?p??ft?/

Noun

shapeshifter (plural shapeshifters)

1. (fantasy, mythology) A creature capable of changing its appearance or form at will.
   • 2000: Glen Cook, Water Sleeps

     The shapeshifter Lisa Bowalk, unable to shed the guise of a black panther, had gone onto the plain as a prisoner but was not now to be found among the dead above or the Captured down below.

   • 2003: Michael Bathgate, The Fox's Craft in Japanese Religion and Folklore: Shapeshifters, Transformations and Duplicities

     Like the teller of shapeshifter stories—who conjures a shifting world of perceptions and expectations for his or her audience that is strikingly similar to the worlds created by the shapeshifter for its victims—the cultural practice of imagination...is an inherently shifty enterprise....

   • 2004: Devin Grayson, Smallville: City

     There have also been verified reports of fire-starters and ice-makers and a shapeshifter so powerful she was able to frame another Smallville citizen for a bank robbery!

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:shape-shifter.

Translations

Anagrams

• phase shifter