A noun for a “living creature” in Quenya Notes (QN) from 1957, a derivative of the primitive form ✶wegō(n) from the root √WEG “live, be active” (PE17/183). It is not entirely clear from context, but I think this word may apply to any living being, both plants and animals.
Conceptual Development: In earlier conceptions, the root √WEG and its precursors were mostly associated with masculine things, and thus the precursors to this word meant “man” rather than living creature: ᴱQ. wie cognate to G. gweg “man, male of the Elda” from the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/44), archaic ᴹQ. †wē “man, warrior” from the Declension of Nouns of the early 1930s (PE21/1, 41) and archaic ᴹQ. †veo “man” from The Etymologies of around 1937 (Ety/WEG; EtyAC/WEG).
†vëo noun "man" (WEG; etymologically connected to vëa "manly, vigorous"; the more neutral word for "man" is nér. According to VT46:21, Tolkien indicated that vëo is an archaic or poetic word.) Tolkien at a later point defined the word as "living creature" (PE17:189). Cf. variant wëo, q.v.