English

Pronunciation

stressed

• (UK) enPR: wûr, IPA^(key): /wɜː(ɹ)/
• (US) enPR: wûr, IPA^(key): /wɝ/
• 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/

Verb

were

1. Second-person singular simple past tense indicative of be.

   John, you were the only person to see him.

2. First-person plural simple past tense indicative of be.

   We were about to leave.

3. Second-person plural simple past tense indicative of be.

   Mary and John, you were right.

4. Third-person plural simple past tense indicative of be.

   They were a fine group.

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

5. Simple imperfect subjunctive in all persons 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:

     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.

6. (Northern England) was.

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

Old English wer, from Proto-Germanic *weraz, from Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós ‎(“man”). Cognate to Latin vir ‎(“man”).

Noun

were ‎(plural weres)

1. (archaic) man (human male), as in werewolf ‎(“man-wolf”).
2. (obsolete) A fine for slaying a man; weregild.
   • Bosworth

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

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

Related terms

• were-
• weregild
• werewolf
• world

Statistics

Anagrams

• ewer, rewe, weer

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -eːrə

Verb

were

1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of weren

Anagrams

• weer

Irarutu

were

Etymology

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

Noun

were

1. water (clear liquid H₂O)

Kurdish

Verb

were

1. Second-person singular imperative of hatin.

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)

Onin

Etymology

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

Noun

were

1. water (clear liquid H₂O)

Toro

Noun

were

1. day

Reference

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

Uruangnirin

Etymology

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

Noun

were

1. water (clear liquid H₂O)