# wolf

> English word · Noun · IPA /wʊlf/ · frequency rank #3,995

## Definitions
1. Canis lupus; the largest wild member of the canine subfamily.
2. Canis lupus; the largest wild member of the canine subfamily.
3. A man who makes amorous advances to many women.
4. A wolf tone or wolf note.
5. Any very ravenous, rapacious, or destructive person or thing; especially, want; starvation.
6. One of the destructive, and usually hairy, larvae of several species of beetles and grain moths.
7. A white worm which infests granaries, the larva of Nemapogon granella, a tineid moth.
8. A wolf spider.
9. An eating ulcer or sore. See lupus.
10. A willying machine, to cleanse wool or willow.

## Etymology
Inherited from Middle English wolf, from Old English wulf, ƿulf, from Proto-West Germanic *wulf, from Proto-Germanic *wulfaz, from Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥kʷos. Doublet of lobo and lupus.
Cognates
Cognate with Scots wouf, North Frisian wulew, Saterland Frisian and German Low German Wulf, West Frisian, Alemannic German, and Dutch wolf, Bavarian bolf, bölf, Woif, Cimbrian and Mòcheno bolf, German Wolf, Luxembourgish Wollef, Vilamovian wuf, Yiddish וואָלף (volf), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk ulv, Faroese úlvur, Icelandic úlfur, Swedish ulf, ulv, Gothic 𐍅𐌿𐌻𐍆𐍃 (wulfs); also Irish and Scottish Gaelic olc (“bad, evil”), Lepontic 𐌖𐌋𐌊𐌏𐌔 (ulkos), Manx olk (“bad”), Sanskrit वृक (vṛ́ka), Persian گرگ (gorg), Latgalian vylks, Latvian vìlks, Lithuanian vilkas, Belarusian воўк (vowk), Bulgarian вълк (vǎlk), Czech and Slovak vlk, Macedonian and Russian волк (volk), Polish wilk, Serbo-Croatian вук, vuk, Slovene volk, Ukrainian вовк (vovk), Albanian ujk, ulk, Latin lupus, Greek λύκος (lýkos), Hittite 𒉿𒀠𒆪𒉿𒀸, Lydian 𐤥𐤠𐤩𐤥𐤤 (walwe, “lion”), Tocharian B walkwe.

## Easily confused with
- **won** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wolf-vs-won)
- **wow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wolf-vs-wow)
- **WTF** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wolf-vs-wtf)
- **woo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wolf-vs-woo)
- **WWF** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wolf-vs-wwf)
- **wot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wolf-vs-wot)
- **wop** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wolf-vs-wop)
- **wor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wolf-vs-wor)
- **work** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wolf-vs-work)
- **word** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wolf-vs-word)
- **wood** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wolf-vs-wood)
- **wore** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wolf-vs-wore)
- **worn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wolf-vs-worn)
- **wont** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wolf-vs-wont)
- **wool** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wolf-vs-wool)
- **worm** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wolf-vs-worm)
- **wong** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wolf-vs-wong)
- **womb** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wolf-vs-womb)
- **woof** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wolf-vs-woof)
- **wort** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wolf-vs-wort)

## Common misspellings (6)
`owlf`, `wlof`, `wofl`, `wolff`, `wollf`, `wwolf`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/wolf