different between wolf vs -able

English

Etymology

From Middle English wolf, from Old English wulf, ?ulf, from Proto-West Germanic *wulf, from Proto-Germanic *wulfaz (compare Saterland Frisian Wulf, West Frisian and Dutch wolf, German Wolf, Norwegian and Danish ulv), from Proto-Indo-European *w??k?os (compare Sanskrit ??? (v??ka), Persian ???? (gorg), Lithuanian vilkas, Russian ???? (volk), Albanian ujk, Latin lupus, Greek ????? (lýkos), Tocharian B walkwe). Doublet of lobo and lupus.

Pronunciation

• enPR: wo?olf
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /w?lf/
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /w?lf/, [w???f], [w??f]
  • (General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /w?lf/, [w?wf]
• enPR: wo?of, IPA^(key): /w?f/ (now nonstandard)
• enPR: w?lf, IPA^(key): /w?lf/ (obsolete)
• Rhymes: -?lf

Noun

wolf (plural wolves)

1. The gray wolf, specifically all subspecies of the gray wolf (Canis lupus) that are not dingoes or dogs.

2. A man who makes amorous advances to many women.
3. (music) A wolf tone or wolf note.

4. (figuratively) Any very ravenous, rapacious, or destructive person or thing; especially, want; starvation.
5. One of the destructive, and usually hairy, larvae of several species of beetles and grain moths.
6. A white worm, or maggot, which infests granaries.
7. (obsolete) An eating ulcer or sore. See lupus.
   • 1650, Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living

     If God should send a cancer upon thy face, or a wolf into thy side

8. A willying machine.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)

Synonyms

• loafer, lobo, lofer, loper, lover (Southwestern US dialects)

Hypernyms

• (large wild canid): Canis lupus, canid

Hyponyms

• (large wild canid): she-wolf, wolfess

Coordinate terms

• (large wild canid): dingo, dog (members of Canis lupus not called wolf); coyote, jackal, fox (other canids)

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Ido: volfo (also from German)

Translations

Verb

wolf (third-person singular simple present wolfs, present participle wolfing, simple past and past participle wolfed)

1. (transitive) To devour; to gobble; to eat (something) voraciously.
2. (intransitive, slang) To make amorous advances to many women; to hit on women; to cruise for sex.
3. (intransitive) To hunt for wolves.

Synonyms

• (devour, gobble): gulp down, wolf down

Translations

Further reading

• wolf on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References

Anagrams

• flow, fowl

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch wolf, from Middle Dutch wolf, from Old Dutch *wulf, *wolf, from Proto-West Germanic *wulf, from Proto-Germanic *wulfaz, from Proto-Indo-European *w??k?os.

Noun

wolf (plural wolwe)

1. wolf

Alemannic German

Etymology

From Middle High German wolf, from Old High German wolf, from Proto-West Germanic *wulf, from Proto-Germanic *wulfaz. Cognate with German Wolf, Dutch wolf, English wolf, Icelandic úlfur.

Noun

wolf m

1. (Carcoforo, Formazza, Gressoney, Issime, Rimella and Campello Monti) wolf

References

• “wolf” in Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Ünsarne Börtar [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch wolf, from Old Dutch *wulf, from Proto-West Germanic *wulf, from Proto-Germanic *wulfaz, from Proto-Indo-European *w??k?os.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??lf/
• Hyphenation: wolf
• Rhymes: -?lf

Noun

wolf m (plural wolven, diminutive wolfje n, feminine wolvin)

1. wolf, undomesticated Canis lupus

2. one of many other canids of the family Canidae, especially of the genus Canis

Hypernyms

• hondachtige

Hypernyms

• hond

Holonyms

• roedel

Derived terms

Related terms

• welp

Descendants

• Afrikaans: wolf

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *wulf, from Proto-West Germanic *wulf, from Proto-Germanic *wulfaz, from Proto-Indo-European *w??k?os.

Noun

wolf m

1. wolf, grey wolf

Inflection

Derived terms

• w?erwolf

Descendants

• Dutch: wolf
  • Afrikaans: wolf
• Limburgish: wólf

Further reading

• “wolf (I)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929) , “wolf (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, ?ISBN, page I

Middle English

Alternative forms

• wulf, woulf, wolfe

Etymology

From Old English wulf, from Proto-West Germanic *wulf, from Proto-Germanic *wulfaz, from Proto-Indo-European *w??k?os.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wulf/

Noun

wolf (plural wolves, diminutive wolfy, wolfie)

1. wolf, lupine
2. terrifying person

Descendants

• English: wolf
• Scots: wolf, woulf, wouff

Middle High German

Etymology

From Old High German wolf, from Proto-West Germanic *wulf, from Proto-Germanic *wulfaz, from Proto-Indo-European *w??k?os.

Noun

wolf m

1. wolf

Descendants

• Alemannic German: wolf (Italian Walser)
• Bavarian:

  Cimbrian: bolf

  Mòcheno: bolf

  Udinese: bolf, bölf

• German: Wolf
• Hunsrik: Wollef
• Luxembourgish: Wollef
• Pennsylvania German: Wolf
• Vilamovian: w?f
• Yiddish: ??????? (volf)

Old High German

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *wulf, from Proto-Germanic *wulfaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wolf/

Noun

wolf m (plural wolfa)

1. wolf

Declension

Derived terms

• Wolfgang

Descendants

• Middle High German: wolf
  • Alemannic German: wolf (Italian Walser)
  • Bavarian:

    Cimbrian: bolf

    Mòcheno: bolf

    Udinese: bolf, bölf

  • German: Wolf
  • Hunsrik: Wollef
  • Luxembourgish: Wollef
  • Pennsylvania German: Wolf
  • Vilamovian: w?f
  • Yiddish: ??????? (volf)

West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian wolf, from Proto-West Germanic *wulf, from Proto-Germanic *wulfaz, from Proto-Indo-European *w??k?os.

Noun

wolf c (plural wolven, diminutive wolfke)

1. wolf

Further reading

• “wolf”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011

English

Alternative forms

• -ible (not productive)

Etymology

• From Middle English -able, borrowed from Old French -able, from Latin -?bilis, from -a- or -i- + -bilis (“capable or worthy of being acted upon”), from Proto-Indo-European i-stem form *-d?li- of *-d?lom (“instrumental suffix”).
• Not closely related etymologically, though currently related semantically, to able.
• Displaced native Old English -endl?c.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?.bl?/

Suffix

-able

1. An adjectival suffix; forms adjectives meaning:
   1. Able to be done; fit to be done.

      movable: able to be moved

      amendable: able to be amended

      breakable: liable to broken

      blamable: fit to be blamed

      salable: fit to be sold

   2. Relevant to or suitable to, in accordance with.

      fashionable: relevant to fashion

      seasonable: suitable to season

   3. Giving, or inclined to.

      pleasurable: giving pleasure

      peaceable: inclined to peace

   4. Subject to.

      reportable: subject to be reported

      taxable: subject to be taxed

   5. Due to be.

      payable: due to pay

Usage notes

• Originally used only on French and Latin words, like separable. Over time -able was added to stems of English verbs ending in -ate, such as educable. Finally, due to probable confusion with the word able, it was used to form adjectives from all sorts of verbs, nouns, and even verb phrases, such as kickable, get-at-able, and hittable.
• While a terminal silent -e is usually dropped when adding a suffix beginning with a vowel, which is followed by -able, the -e is not dropped when adding -able if the root ends with a soft -ce and -ge, as in replaceable and changeable, so that these are not misinterpreted as hard ‘c’ or ‘g’ sounds. This same rule is used for -ous, as in courageous.
• As when adding the suffix -ed, a final consonant of a root should be doubled if the preceding vowel is short and (in British English) stressed.
• The form -ible has the same senses and pronunciation. The choice between the two is somewhat idiosyncratic, but in general, -ible is used in forms derived from Latin verbs of the second, third, and fourth conjugations, and in a few words whose roots end in a soft c or g, while -able is used in all other such words, particularly those formed from Latin verbs of the first conjugation and those that come from French or from Anglo-Saxon (Old English). Fowler's English Usage recommends using -ible for simplicity's sake in any word whose root ends in a soft c or g to avoid -eable (e.g., *changible rather than changeable), but this recommendation has generally not been followed.
• A number of adjectives in -able come from verbs that do not have direct objects, but that rather are construed with prepositions. In these cases, the preposition does not appear with the adjective in -able; hence, reliable (“fit to being relied on”), laughable (“suited for laughing at”), remarkable (“fit to be remarked upon”), and so on.
• Traditionally, verbs ending in -ate drop this suffix before adding -able; hence, communicable (“able to be communicated”), eradicable (“possible to eradicate”), implacable (“unable to be placated”), inimitable (“unable to imitate”), and so on, but relatable, because relate is re- + -late, not rel- + -ate. Logically one should therefore say rotable to mean "able to be rotated", but rotatable has become accepted.
• There are cases where a word with un- -able is much more common than one with just -able, such as unbreakable, unsinkable, and untouchable.

Derived terms

Related terms

• able
• ability
• -ability
• -worthy

Translations

Anagrams

• Abel, Bale, Beal, Blea, Ebla, Elba, albe, bael, bale, beal, blea

Catalan

Etymology

From Old Occitan, from Latin -?bilis.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /?-a.bl?/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /?-a.ble/

Suffix

-able (masculine and feminine plural -ables)

1. -able

Usage notes

This suffix is used for verbs of the first conjugation, which end in -ar and are the most common. For other verbs, the suffix is -ible.

Derived terms

French

Etymology

From Middle French -able, from Old French -able, from Latin -?bilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /abl/

Suffix

-able (plural -ables)

1. -able

Galician

Alternative forms

• -ábel

Etymology

From Latin -?bilis.

Suffix

-able

1. -able

Derived terms

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French -able, from Latin -?bilis.

Suffix

-able (plural -ables)

1. -able

Descendants

• French: -able

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

• -abel
• -abelt

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???bl?/
• Rhymes: -??bl?
• Hyphenation: ab?le

Suffix

-able

1. singular definite & plural form of -abel

Anagrams

• bale, bela

Old French

Etymology

From Latin -?bilis.

Suffix

-able (plural -ables)

1. worthy of, deserving of

   ?honorer (“to honor”) + ?-able ? ?honnorable (“honorable”)

2. -ing, creating an effect, an influence

   ?forsener (“to become insane or enraged”) + ?-able ? ?forsenable (“maddening”)

Descendants

• ? Middle English: -able
  • English: -able
• Middle French: -able
  • French: -able

Spanish

Etymology

From Old Spanish, from Latin -?bilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?able/, [?a.??le]

Suffix

-able (plural -ables)

1. -able

Derived terms