wolf child

noun — 4 senses

wolf child

nounalso spelled wolf-child

Etymology Calque of German Wolfskind and Lithuanian vilko vaikas. First attested in the 1990s.

1

A German street child, typically an orphan, who lived in East Prussia at the end of World War II.

Related terms: wolf-child

wolf-child

noun

1

A human child that has been raised by wolves from infancy.

Mr. Neilson also adds that a jemidar told him that when he was a lad he remembered going with others to see a wolf-child which had been netted.1898 January 23, Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, Philadelphia, page 121:

2

Fantasy, Human sciences, Mysticism, Mythology, Philosophy, Sciences A being that is part wolf, part child.

Odin watched the wolf-child grow with foreboding, for in his dreams the wolf had been there at the end of everything[.]2017, Neil Gaiman, Norse Mythology, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 78:

3

Literary A baby or young wolf.

Related terms: wolf child

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — authors: page histories for wolf child and wolf-child.