Werrecraft

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The supernatural power or skill belonging to a werewolf, especially the ability to change between human and animal form
2. Magic practiced by or associated with werewolves and other shapeshifters, including their transformations and wolfish abilities
3. The art or lore of a werewolf, meaning the sorcery and shapeshifting arts attributed to people who turn into wolves

Etymology: Its first half comes from Middle English "werre," meaning war, which reached English from Old French "guerre." The French word was borrowed from a Germanic source, probably Frankish "*werra," meaning strife or confusion, a sense that survives in the idea of war as a disorderly contest. The spelling with "w" and "rr" follows the Middle English habit of writing the war sound as "wer-" or "war-," and the two spellings were interchangeable for centuries. The second half is "craft," from Old English "cræft," which meant skill, strength, or power and only later narrowed toward trades and, eventually, cunning. Joined together, the compound means skill or knowledge in waging war: generalship, tactics, the martial arts of a fighter. Modern English keeps the same pattern in "warcraft," which is the form most readers will recognise, while "werrecraft" is the older spelling of the same compound.