werwer

Maltese

Root
w-r-w-r

Etymology

Formally from Arabic وَلْوَلَ‎ (walwala, “to wail, lament”), itself probably from وَيْل‎ (wayl, “woe”). The transitive use in Maltese would be a backformation from twerwer (“be scared”), from the fifth stem تَوَلْوَلَ‎ (tawalwala), which in Arabic is used synonymously with the first-mentioned form.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈwɛr.wɛr/

Verb

werwer (imperfect jwerwer, past participle mwerwer)

to scare, terrify
Synonym: beżża'

Conjugation

In those forms where the second -w- comes to stand between the two -r-, it becomes silent; thus e.g. werwru /ˈwɛr.ru/.

Conjugation of werwer

		singular			plural
		1^st person	2^nd person	3^rd person	1^st person	2^nd person	3^rd person
perfect	m	werwirt	werwirt	werwer	werwirna	werwirtu	werwru
perfect	f	werwirt	werwirt	werwret	werwirna	werwirtu	werwru
imperfect	m	nwerwer	twerwer	jwerwer	nwerwru	twerwru	jwerwru
imperfect	f	nwerwer	twerwer	twerwer	nwerwru	twerwru	jwerwru
imperative			werwer			werwru

Derived terms

twerwer
twerwir