whelp

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English whelp, from Old English hwelp, from Proto-West Germanic *hwelp, from Proto-Germanic *hwelpaz (compare Dutch welp, German Welpe, Welfe, Old Norse hvelpr, Norwegian Nynorsk kvelp, Danish hvalp), from pre-Germanic *kʷelbos, of uncertain origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wɛlp/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (without the wine–whine merger) IPA^(key): /ʍɛlp/
• Rhymes: -ɛlp
• Homophone: welp (wine–whine merger)

Noun

whelp (plural whelps)

1. A young offspring of a various carnivores (canid, ursid, felid, pinniped), especially of a dog or a wolf, the young of a bear or similar mammal (lion, tiger, seal); a pup, wolf cub.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     […] And fared like a furious wyld Beare, / Whose whelpes are ſtolne away, ſhe being otherwhere.

   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 4:

     Pro. […] Then was this Iſland / (Saue for the Son, that he^[sic] did littour heere, / A frekelld whelpe, hag-borne) not honour'd with / A humane ſhape.

2. (derogatory) An insolent youth; a mere child.
   • July 13, 1713, Joseph Addison, The Guardian

     That awkward whelp with his money bags would have made his entrance.

   • October 22, 2011, Princess Luna, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, "Luna Eclipsed"

     Thy backside is whole and ungobbled, thou ungrateful whelp!

3. (obsolete) A kind of ship.
4. One of several wooden strips to prevent wear on a windlass on a clipper-era ship.
5. A tooth on a sprocket wheel (compare sprocket and cog).

Derived terms

• bear-whelp
• fox whelp, fox-whelp, fox's whelp (foxling)
• whelpie
• whelping ice (Newfoundland)
• whelpling
• whelpy
• wolf whelp, wolf-whelp, wolf's whelp

Translations

young of a mammal

Armenian: ձագ (hy) (jag) Bulgarian: кутре (bg) n (kutre) Catalan: cadell (ca) m Czech: štěně (cs) n, mládě (cs) n Danish: hvalp (da) c Esperanto: hundido (eo) (dog), lupido (wolf) Faroese: hvølpur m French: chiot (fr) m (dog), louveteau (fr) m (wolf), louvetelle (fr) f (wolf), petit (fr) m Galician: cachorro (gl) m German: Welpe (de) m, Welpin f Greek: σκύμνος (el) m (skýmnos) Ancient: σκύλαξ m or f (skúlax), σκύμνος m or f (skúmnos) Hebrew: גוּר (he) m (gur) Ido: hundyuno (io) (dog), volfyuno (io) (wolf) Italian: cucciolo (it) m Latin: catulus, catellus Low German: Welp m, Wölp m, Wülp m Old English: hwelp m Portuguese: filhote (pt) m Romanian: cățel (ro) m (dog), lupan (ro) m (wolf) Russian: щено́к (ru) m (ščenók) Spanish: cachorro (es), caduelo, cadillo Swedish: valp (sv) c Turkish: enik (tr) Volapük: dogül (vo) (dog), lupül (wolf) Woiwurrung: boobop yerranginin

See also

• Guelph

Etymology 2

From Middle English whelpen, from Old English hwelpian, derived from hwelp.

Verb

whelp (third-person singular simple present whelps, present participle whelping, simple past and past participle whelped)

1. (ambitransitive, of she-dog, she-wolf, vixen, etc.) To give birth.

   The bitch whelped.

   The she-wolf whelped a large litter of cubs.

Translations

(animals) to give birth

Bulgarian: окучвам се (okučvam se) Catalan: cadellar (ca), quissoiar (ca) Danish: hvalpe, få hvalpe Faroese: leggja French: mettre bas (fr) Galician: parir (gl) German: werfen (de), Junge werfen, jungen (de), wölfen (de) Greek: γεννώ (el) (gennó) Hebrew: הִמְלִיט (himlít) Hungarian: ellik (hu), megellik (hu) Old English: hwelpian Portuguese: parir (pt) Romanian: făta (ro) Russian: щени́ться (ru) n (ščenítʹsja) Spanish: parir (es) Welsh: bwrw (cy) (transitive)

Etymology 3

Variant of welp.

Interjection

whelp

1. Alternative form of welp (“well”).