Meanings
comparative more ferine · superlative most ferine
- archaicPertaining to wild, menacing animals; feral.
the season of rutting (an uncouth phrase, by which the vulgar denote that gentle dalliance, which in the well-wooded forest of Hampshire, passes between lovers of the ferine kind) […]
1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society, published 1973, page 162Synonyms: indomite, savage, tameless, feral, indomite, savage, tameless, uplandish
- obsoletebiologyBelonging to the proposed taxon of bats, carnivorans, and insectivorans.
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivePertaining to wild, menacing animals; feral.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinferīnus
- Englishferine
From Latin ferīnus, from fera (“wild animal”). The zoological sense was coined by William Whewell in 1840.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
French feral
- feralwild and menacing
Italian ferino
- ferinowild and menacing
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
ferine. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ferine
“ferine.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ferine. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ferine,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ferine.
Source: ferine on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.