aware

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /əˈweə/, US /əˈwer/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English aware, earlier iwar,^[2][3] inherited from Old English ġewær (“watchful, vigilant”),^[4][2] from Proto-Germanic *ga-waraz,^[4][2] from the intensive or collective prefix *ga- and *waraz (“wary, cautious”),^[4][5] from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to perceive, watch out for”).^[4] It is cognate with Old Saxon giwar, Middle Dutch gheware and Old High German giwar (German gewahr).^[4][2] Wary is from the same root.^[6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Watchful, vigilant, on one's guard: 1095 in the OED^[7] (Old English ġewær about 950, in the Lindisfarne Gospels, in Barnhart).^[2] The form with a- is probably from before 1325.^[2]

Semantic evolution

An early meaning was “vigilant, cautious”, and also “informed”.^[6] The sense “informed, cognizant, conscious”, which is the usual one today, is from 1205 in the OED^[7] and the 14th century in Hoad,^[3] while “on one's guard” is now obsolete.^[3] An elliptical use without be, like an imperative (“beware”), is from about 1530.^[7] A newer sense, “well informed about current issues”, is in Merriam-Webster.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 950 – Old English ġewær.^[2]
• 1095 – watchful, vigilant.^[7]
• 1205 – informed, conscious.^[7]
• before 1325 – the form aware.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Having knowledge or perception of something; conscious.
2. Informed about current developments: politically aware.
3. (archaic) Watchful; vigilant.

Word family

• awareness
• hyperaware
• self-aware
• self-awareness
• well-aware

Related words

• wary
• beware
• ware
• guard
• warden

Usage notes

The American Heritage Dictionary distinguishes it from cognizant, conscious and sensible: aware implies knowledge gained through one's own perception or from information.^[9]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin