feral
/ˈfɛɹəl/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.29 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A domesticated (non-human) animal that has returned to the wild; an animal, particularly a domesticated animal, living independently of humans.
Example Sentences
- "1876 Statistical, Descriptive, And Historical Account Of The North-Western Provinces Of India. Allahabad: North-Western Provinces' Government Press 1876. p XIV, Agra Division The spotted deer, in a truly feral state, has very much the same distribution in Bundelkhand as the sambar, but it is more numerous."
- "Among the ensemble’s strange, outmoded, “original” instruments — the feral horns, sour violins, wooden flutes, cellos without endpins — she seemed right at home, despite her Broadway provenance."
- "In this region, the wild boars can be dangerous, but (perhaps counterintuitively) the feral hogs can be even worse."
- "This subject has been ably treated by several authors, and I shall, in my future work, discuss some of the checks at considerable length, more especially in regard to the feral animals of South America."
- "The Guinea fowl has become thoroughly feral in Jamaica and in St. Domingo, and has diminished in size; the legs are black, whereas the legs of the aboriginal African bird are said to be grey. This small change is worth notice on account of the often-repeated statement that all feral animals invariably revert in every character to their original type."
- "It owes its existence to a feral culture of internet goblins who sentence-mixed the same few janky cutscenes for years."
Etymology
From Latin fera (“wild beast”, noun) + -al or Latin ferus (“wild; savage; cruel”, adjective) + -al. Alternatively, borrowed from Middle French féral or Late Latin ferālis.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *ǵʰwer-, féral, ferālis, fērālis, *dʰéh₁s
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈfɛɹəl/
- British English: /ˈfɛɹəl/