were

See also: were-, we're, and wɛrɛ

English

Etymology 1

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

Alternative forms

• ware (old eye dialect)
• weare (obsolete)

Pronunciation

stressed

• (UK) enPR: wûr, IPA^(key): /wɜː(ɹ)/

  • Audio (London)

    (file)

• (UK, regional) enPR: wâr, IPA^(key): /wɛə(ɹ)/
• (US) enPR: wûr, IPA^(key): /wɝ/
• (Ireland, also) enPR: wär, IPA^(key): /wɑːɹ/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)
• Homophone: whirr (in accents with the wine-whine merger)

unstressed

• (UK) enPR: wər, IPA^(key): /wə(ɹ)/
• (US) enPR: wər, IPA^(key): /wɚ/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Homophone: we're

Verb

were

1. second-person singular simple past indicative of be

   John, you were the only person to see him.

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

   We were about to leave.

   Mary and John, you were right.

   They were a fine group.

   They were to be the best of friends from that day on.

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,...)

   • 2011 November 3, David Ornstein, “Macc Tel-Aviv 1 - 2 Stoke”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     Maccabi would have been out of contention were it not for Stoke's profligacy, but their fortune eventually ran out as the visitors opened the scoring.

4. (MLE, 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

• am
• are
• is
• art
• be
• being
• been
• beest
• was
• wast
• wert

Etymology 2

From Middle English were, wer, see wer.

Noun

were (plural weres)

1. Alternative form of wer (“man; wergeld”)
   • 1799-1805, Sharon Turner, 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.

   • 2004, James Fitzjames Stephen, A General View of the Criminal Law of England, →ISBN, pages 12–13:

     The consequence of conviction was, the payment to the person injured, of a were, or penalty, proportioned to the offencel but though this was the ordinary course, the recovery of the were was not the only object of the proceedings. "The were," says Reeve, "in cases of homicide, and the fines that were paid in cases of theft of various kinds, were only to redeem the offender from the proper punishment of the law, which was death, and that was reddemable, not only by paying money, but by undergoing some personal pains; hence it is that we hear a great variety of corporal punishments..."...

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

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eːrə

Verb

were

1. (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of weren

Anagrams

• weer

Fijian

Noun

were

1. garden

Verb

were (wereca)

1. to garden, to weed (wereca specifically)

Irarutu

were

Etymology

From Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahiʀ.

Noun

were

1. water (clear liquid H₂O)

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 wǣre (second-person singular indicative and subjunctive past of wesan).

Alternative forms

• weer, weere, wer, wære, ware

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwɛːr(ə)/, /ˈwɛr(ə)/

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
• Yola: war, ware

Etymology 2

From weren.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwɛːr(ə)/

Noun

were (uncountable)

1. wearing

Descendants

• English: wear
• Yola: were, wer

References

• “wēre, n.(4).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 3

From a conflation of Old English wǣron and Old English wǣren.

Verb

were

1. Alternative form of weren

Etymology 4

From Old English werre, wyrre.

Noun

were

1. Alternative form of werre

Mwani

Noun

were class 5 (plural mawere)

1. breast

Northern Kurdish

Verb

were

1. second-person singular imperative of hatin

Onin

Etymology

From Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahiʀ.

Noun

were

1. water (clear liquid H₂O)

Tocharian B

Etymology

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

Noun

were ?

1. smell, scent, odor

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 *waiʀ, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahiʀ.

Noun

were

1. water (clear liquid H₂O)

Yola

Alternative forms

• wer

Etymology

From Middle English were.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wiː/
• Homophones: wyer, waare

Noun

were

1. wearing

Related terms

• waare (“to wear”)

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) 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, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 77

Yoruba

Alternative forms

• iwèrè
• ièrè

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wè.ɾè/

Noun

wèrè

1. insanity, madness, imbecile
2. (sometimes derogatory, offensive) mad person

   Synonyms: ayírí, asínwín, aṣiwèrè

Derived terms

• #Sọ̀rọ̀SókèWèrè (“2020 anti police brutality hashtag”)
• aṣápẹ́-fún-wèrè-jó àti wèrè, ọgbọọgba ni wọ́n (“one who claps for a lunatic to dance is no better than the lunatic”)
• ebi ni yóò kọ́ wèrè lọ́gbọ́n (“it is hunger that will force sense into the fool”)
• sọ̀rọ̀ sókè wèrè (“phrase derived from the hashtag”)
• ṣiwèrè (“to go mad”)
• wèrè la fi ń wo wèrè (“fight fire with fire”)
• wèrè ló pọ̀ jù nínú yín (“your madness is too much”)
• ya wèrè (“to go mad”)

 

Descendants

• → Nigerian Pidgin: werey