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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

feral.

Wild; untamed.

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈfɛɹəl/Received-Pronunciation/ˈfɪəɹəl/Received-Pronunciation/ˈfɛɹəl/British, Southern, Standard/ˈfɪːɹəl/British, Southern, Standard
  1. Wild; untamed.

  2. Wild; untamed. Of an animal, wild but descended from domestic or captive ancestors; thus, in the wild, although not necessarily of the wild type.

    In this region, the wild boars can be dangerous, but (perhaps counterintuitively) the feral hogs can be even worse.
  3. Wild; untamed. Having the characteristics of an animal; animal-like.

  4. Wild; untamed. Of a person, contemptible; unruly; misbehaved.

  5. Wild; untamed. Behaving in an out-of-control way due to enthrallment with a certain thought, behavior, person, etc.

    Internet
  6. Wild; untamed. That is a feral character; zoomorphic.

    not-comparable · slang
Where this word comes from

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.

noun/ˈfɛɹəl/Received-Pronunciation/ˈfɪəɹəl/Received-Pronunciation/ˈfɛɹəl/British, Southern, Standard/ˈfɪːɹəl/British, Southern, Standard
  1. A domesticated (non-human) animal that has returned to the wild; an animal, particularly a domesticated animal, living independently of humans.

  2. A contemptible young person, a lout, a person who behaves wildly.

    Australia · colloquial
  3. A person who has isolated themselves from the outside world; one living an alternative lifestyle.

    Australia · colloquial
  4. A furry character in art or literature which has the appearance of a regular animal (typically quadrupedal), that may or may not be able to communicate with humans or "anthros".

    slang
    The story is about a group of ferals which have to explore the ruins of society after the humans die out.
Where this word comes from

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.

adj
  1. Deadly, fatal.

  2. Of or pertaining to the dead, funereal.

Where this word comes from

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

noun
  1. Misspelling of ferrule.

    alt-of · misspelling
Where this word comes from

Homophone.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.