English

were

/wə(ɹ)/
simple subjunctive of be

    Etymology graph

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    Origin

    Etymology 1

    Inherited from Middle English were, weren, from Old English wǣre, wǣron, wǣren, from Proto-West Germanic *wāʀun, *wāʀīn, from Proto-Germanic *wēzun, *wēzīn, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wes-. More at was.

    Etymology 3

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

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • inheritedMiddle Englishwere
      • inheritedOld Englishwǣre
        • inheritedProto-West Germanic*wāʀīn
          • inheritedProto-Germanic*wēzīn
            • derivedProto-Indo-European*h₂wes- “to reside”
      • inheritedOld Englishwǣron
      • inheritedOld Englishwǣren
    • derivedEnglishwerewolf “A person who is transformed or can transform into a wolf or a wolflike human, often said to do so d…”
      • derivedEnglishwer “A man; a male; a husband.”
        • inheritedMiddle Englishwer
          • inheritedOld Englishwer “man”

    Sources