Etymologically
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beware

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Pronunciation

  • /biˈwɛɚ/, /bɪˈwɛɚ/[1]

Etymology

It began as the Middle English imperative phrase be ware, in the plural beth warre, probably about 1200,[2][3] from Middle English been (“to be”) + war (“on one's guard”),[4][5][2] that is, be and the adjective ware.[4][6][7] The adjective goes back to Old English wær (“prudent, aware, wary”),[3][2][8] from Proto-Germanic *waraz,[3][2][9] cognate with Old Norse varr (“aware”), Old Saxon war (“aware, careful”) and Old High German giwar,[9] from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to perceive, watch out for”).[3] Old English also had a verb warian (“to guard, take care of”), with a compound bewarian (“to defend”); the compound is not certainly found in Middle English, but Etymonline thinks it perhaps contributed to the word.[10][2][3] The simple verb survived, common until 1500 in the imperative “ware thee!”, and still in the call “Ware holes!”, often mistaken since 1600 for a shortening of beware.[10][2][11] Because “be ware” meant the same as “ware thee!”, it was soon treated as a single verb, and by 1300 it was written as one word.[10] It was formed like begone.[3][12][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

To be on one's guard against something, with of: 1297, in Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle.[10] Barnhart and Etymonline put the phrase at about 1200,[2][3] and Dictionary.com dates it to 1150–1200.[13]

Semantic evolution

Being in origin be plus an adjective, beware was at first used only where be could stand: the imperative, the infinitive and the present subjunctive, while the indicative was I am ware.[10][11] In the 14th and 15th centuries it took on the constructions of the old verb ware, even a direct object, as in beware that train (before 1600).[10] Chaucer used it with an infinitive and, in the Franklin's Tale, for "to take care of", both senses now obsolete,[10] and since about 1523 it was followed by a clause with lest.[10] After 1600 the inflected forms bewares, bewared and bewaring were used by good writers, Ben Jonson and Dryden among them;[10][3] these were later dropped, and the word is again used chiefly in the imperative and the infinitive.[10][12][5][14] Johnson (1755) defined it as "to regard with caution; to be suspicious of danger from", usually followed by of.[15] Shakespeare's Beware the ides of March and Beware Macduff show the direct object.[4][12]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – the phrase beth warre, be wary.[2][3]
  • 1297 – with of, to be on one's guard against.[10]
  • c. 1386 – with an infinitive (obsolete).[10]
  • c. 1405 – to take care of (obsolete by 1611).[10]
  • c. 1523 – with a clause, beware lest.[10]
  • 1598 – inflected forms such as bewared.[10]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To be cautious or on one's guard, usually followed by of and used in the imperative or infinitive: Beware of loose stones on the path.
  2. To be wary of something: Beware the ides of March (Shakespeare).

Usage notes

A different Middle English beware, to spend money, formed from be- and a northern verb ware meaning to spend, is recorded from Chaucer's Troilus (about 1374) to 1472.[10] In 19th-century Polari, beware was slang for anything to drink.[16]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  9. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  12. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  13. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  14. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  16. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com