feral

Borrowed from Middle French féral, from fer + -al, or borrowed from a Late Latin fērālis.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɛɹəl/, /ˈfɪəɹəl/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛɹəl, -ɪəɹəl
• Homophones: ferryl, Farrell (Mary–marry–merry merger)

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.
4. Internet slang. Engrossed by a certain thought or behavior.

   I went absolutely feral over Harry Potter lore.

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, published 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.

• 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.

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

feral (comparative more feral, superlative most feral)

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

• flare

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

feral (plural ferales)

1. feral

• “feral”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014