lupus

Borrowed from Latin lupus (“wolf”). Doublet of lobo and wolf.

• enPR: lo͝o'pəs
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈluːpəs/

    • Audio (Southern England):

      (file)

  • (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈlupəs/

    • Audio (Texas):

      (file)

  • (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈlʉːpəs/
• Rhymes: -uːpəs

lupus (uncountable)

2. (pathology) Any of a number of autoimmune diseases, the most common of which is systemic lupus erythematosus.
   • 2015 January 21, 00:05:15 from the start, in Conan Visits Taco Bell (Conan)‎^[2], Conan O'Brien (actor), Team Coco:

     You like the name quesalupa? That is a little like "case of lupus". I just keep thinking about that.

   • 2019 November 12, Marianne Garvey, “Selena Gomez says she was attacked for gaining weight during her battle with lupus”, in CNN‎^[3], archived from the original on 20 March 2023:

     After the singer was diagnosed with lupus, she tells the vodcast “Giving Back Generation” that she discovered the disease has a direct impact on her weight, which made her struggle privately.

   • 2022 March 17, Joan T. Merrill, Victoria P. Werth, Richard Furie et al., “Phase 2 Trial of Iberdomide in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus”, in The New England Journal of Medicine, volume 386, number 11, →DOI, page 1034:

     Iberdomide, a cereblon modulator promoting degradation of the transcription factors Ikaros and Aiolos, which affect leukocyte development and autoimmunity, is being evaluated for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

• wolf (obsolete)

• Lupus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Borrowed from Latin lupus. Doublet of the inherited llop.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈlu.pus]

lupus m (uncountable)

1. lupus

Borrowed from Latin lupus. Doublet of lovo and the inherited lupo.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlu.pus/
• Rhymes: -upus
• Hyphenation: lù‧pus

lupus m (invariable)

1. (pathology) lupus

• lupico
• lupoma

Uncertain.

• Perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥kʷos (“wolf”). The term may have undergone metathesis to Proto-Italic *lukʷos, which then may have entered Latin via a Osco-Umbrian language, where the change of *kʷ to /p/ is regular.^[1][2] Another example of a borrowing with that shift is popīna. According to the linguist Stefan Höfler, a non-metathesized Italic form may be reflected in Latin Ulpius.^[3]
• Since Ancient Greek λύκος (lúkos) may showcase similar metathesis, the linguist Simon Esposito argues that the term was borrowed from a Sabellic language that itself may have borrowed the term from Greek at an early date.^[4]
• De Vaan alternatively suggests a possible derivation from Proto-Indo-European *wl̥p /*lup- (“marten”), which is perhaps also continued by Latin vulpēs (“fox”). According to de Vaan, such a development may have occurred due to the tabooistic replacement of the word for “wolf.” However, de Vaan notes that this theory requires an explanation for the term’s continuance as vulpēs. This etymology also requires a somewhat tenuous semantic development from “marten” > “fox” > “wolf.”^[1]

Possible cognates include Ancient Greek λύκος (lúkos), Sanskrit वृक (vṛka), Old English wulf, and Old Church Slavonic влькъ (vlĭkŭ). Doublet of lycos and Lycus.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈɫʊ.pʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈluː.pus]

lupus m (genitive lupī, feminine lupa); second declension

1. wolf (Canis lupus)

   Homō hominī lupus.

   A man [is] a wolf to [another] man.

2. (zoology) an animal which acts in the savage manner of a wolf, particularly:
   1. pike (Esocidae)
   2. wolffish (Anarhichadidae)
   3. an uncertain kind of spider
3. (carpentry) a tool which is shaped like a wolf's tooth, particularly:
   1. a kind of bit
   2. a kind of handsaw
   3. a kind of hook used for hoisting objects
4. (botany) hops (H. lupulus)

Second-declension noun.

• hirpus

Borrowings from Scientific Latin:

• “lupus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “lupus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "lupus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “lupus”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “lupus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “lupus”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray

Borrowed from French lupus. Doublet of lup.

lupus n (uncountable)

1. lupus

Borrowed from Latin lupus. Doublet of lobo.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlupus/ [ˈlu.pus]
• Rhymes: -upus
• Syllabification: lu‧pus

lupus m (uncountable)

1. lupus

• “lupus”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025