ferus

From Proto-Italic *feros, from earlier *xʷeros, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰwéros, from *ǵʰwer- (“wild animal”).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈfɛ.rʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈfɛː.rus]

ferus (feminine fera, neuter ferum); first/second-declension adjective

1. wild, savage, fierce, cruel

   Synonyms: trux, ferōx, atrōx, violēns, immānis, efferus, crūdēlis, silvāticus, ācer, acerbus, sevērus

   Antonyms: mītis, tranquillus, misericors, placidus, quietus, clemens

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 4.107–108:

     prīma ferōs habitūs hominī dētrāxit: ab illā
     vēnērunt cultūs mundaque cūra suī.

     [Venus] first divested men of savage habits: from her
     came fancy attire and clean care of oneself.
     (See Venus (mythology).)

2. uncivilized, uncultivated

   Synonym: barbaricus

3. untamed, rough

First/second-declension adjective.

• efferus

• ferōx

ferus m (genitive ferī); second declension

1. wild animal

Second-declension noun.

• “ferus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ferus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ferus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to fight like lions: ferarum ritu pugnare
    
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 215