wolf

A wolf has been haunting English vocabulary for a very long time, and it brought more than teeth with it. In Old English, wulf could mean the animal, a devil, or a predatory person, which is why English still talks about keeping the wolf from the door when money runs thin. The same beast also leaves tracks in stranger places: Latin lupus gives us lupine and lupus, while Greek lykos may be a distant cousin, though the family tree is a little messy there. By the 19th century, English had turned wolf into a verb for devouring food and, separately, for a man who prowls after women. So the next time you hear the word, remember: it’s not just a forest animal, it’s a whole ancient metaphor with fangs.