Meanings
nosferatu1
- Alternative letter-case form of Nosferatu.
Nosferatu2
- A vampire.
Those of us who have dabbled much in the lore of the nosferatu tend to think of them as imaginative creations of the German and English Romantics, and not without reason.
2018 November, Kevin Jackson, “Something to Sink Your Teeth Into”, in Literary Review2 more examples
"Friend Arthur, if you had met that kiss [...] you would in time, when you had died, have become nosferatu, as they call it in Eastern Europe, and would all time make more of those Un-Deads that so have filled us with horror."
1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, published 1993, page 192While it may have been capable of flight, it almost certainly spent its time on Hateg crawling about on its wrists, with its great leathery wings folded over its body like a shroud. A gigantic kind of Nosferatu comes to mind.
2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 26
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
Possibly from a Romanian word for vampire (cf. nesuferit). The term achieved popular currency through Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula and F. W. Murnau's 1922 German film Nosferatu. See also: Wikipedia's article on the etymology of the word (and the references there).
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
nosferatu. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nosferatu
“nosferatu.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nosferatu. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nosferatu,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nosferatu.
Source: nosferatu on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.