Wiktionary

feral

See also: féral

EnglishEdit

 
Feral cats on Big Island, Hawaii

EtymologyEdit

Borrowed from Middle French féral, from fer + -al, or borrowed from a Late Latin ferālis, from Latin ferus (“wild”).

PronunciationEdit

AdjectiveEdit

feral (comparative more feral, superlative most feral)

  1. Wild, untamed.
  2. Of an animal, being wild but descended from domestic or captive animals.
  3. (of a person) Contemptible, unruly, misbehaved.

Derived termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

NounEdit

feral (plural ferals)

  1. A domesticated animal that has returned to the wild; an animal, particularly a domesticated animal, living independently of humans.
    • 1960 May 19, “Notes and Comments: No homes for the pigeons”, in New Scientist, page 1261:
      Although it is not difficult to induce domestic pigeons to nest in boxes fixed to trees, London′s ferals are not yet acclimatized to arboreal holes.
    • 2005, Alexandra Powe Allred, Cats' Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Mysterious Mousers, Talented Tabbies, and Feline Oddities, unnumbered page,
      Traffic, abuse, inhumane traps, and accidental poisoning are other hazards ferals must face. […] In England one gamekeeper claimed to have killed over three hundred ferals, while another brought home pelts to his wife so that she could design rugs from cat skins as a source of secondary income.
    • 2007, Clea Simon, Cries and Whiskers, page 26,
      You trap ferals, neuter them, and give them their rabies shot. Maybe distemper.
    • 2011, Gina Spadafori, Paul D. Pion, Cats for Dummies, unnumbered page,
      If you′ve ever put a saucer of milk out for a hard-luck kitty, or if you′re spending your lunch hour sharing sandwiches with the ferals near your office, this is the chapter for you.
  2. (Australia, colloquial) A contemptible young person, a lout, a person who behaves wildly.
  3. (Australia, colloquial) A person who has isolated themselves from the outside world; one living an alternative lifestyle.
    • 1995, Bill Metcalf, From Utopian Dreaming to Communal Reality: Cooperative Lifestyles in Australia, page 82,
      The intolerance which was directed towards us during the early years has now shifted to ‘the ferals’ who embrace a new version of nonconformist behaviour that even some of us in their parent′s generation — the Aquarian settlers — don′t like. The ferals are the scapegoats for the drug problems here, and are highly visible since many of them have nowhere to live.
    • 2002, Shane Maloney, Something Fishy, 2003, page 208,
      A pod of ferals was moving towards the exit, a half-dozen soap-shy, low-tech, bush-dwelling hippies.
    • 2010, Anna Krien, Into The Woods: The Battle For Tasmania's Forests, page 102,
      It′s the rootlessness of the ferals that people don′t seem to trust; their claims of connectedness to all wild places touches a nerve. Even residents of Maydena who want to see the Florentine protected dislike the ratbags′ itinerancy.
  4. (furry subculture) A character in furry art or literature which has the physical characteristics (body) of a regular animal (typically quadripedal), that may or may not be able to communicate with humans or anthros (contrasts anthro)
    The story is about a group of ferals which have to explore the ruins of society after the humans die out.

Derived termsEdit

Usage notesEdit

  • Feral in the furry-related sense can refer to both regular animals as well as characters which have the bodies of regular animals but the intelligence of a human. Intelligent feral characters are often depicted as speaking with other characters, but may only be able to speak with other ferals and not humans or anthros due to a language barrier.

Etymology 2Edit

From Latin fērālis (“funereal”), from Proto-Italic *fēz-ālis, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰéh₁s (“god, sacred place”).

AdjectiveEdit

feral (comparative more feral, superlative most feral)

  1. Deadly, fatal.
  2. Of or pertaining to the dead, funereal.

AnagramsEdit

SpanishEdit

EtymologyEdit

Borrowed from a Late Latin ferālis, from Latin ferus (“wild”), or formed from fiero +‎ -al.

AdjectiveEdit

feral (plural ferales)

  1. feral

Related termsEdit

Further readingEdit

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