wary

Etymology

It is formed from English ware + -y,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from the older adjective ware, inherited from Middle English war, also ware,^[4][7][8] inherited from Old English wær (“prudent, aware, alert”),^[9][4][7] from Proto-Germanic *waraz.^[9][4][10] It is cognate with Old Saxon giwar, Middle Dutch ghewāre, Old High German giwar (now German gewahr (“aware”)), Old Norse varr (“attentive, aware”) and Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐍂𐍃 (wars, “cautious”),^[9][4][11] and is related to aware and beware.^[4][8] Etymonline traces the Germanic word to Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to perceive, watch out for”),^[9] while Barnhart lists the outside cognates as only possible: Latin vereor (“to view with awe, fear”) and Ancient Greek ὁράω (horáō, “to see”).^[4][7][10] Skeat compared the added -y with that of murky,^[12] and Weekley with swarthy and vasty.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Habitually on one's guard against danger, deception or mistake: 1552, in Huloet's Abcedarium Anglico Latinum,^[2][4] though Barnhart's Concise dictionary dates it to 1470^[14] and Etymonline, the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English to the late 15th century.^[9][3][15]

Semantic evolution

The new adjective took over from the older ware, which Chaucer still used in "war and wys".^[13] Later 16th-century uses applied it to cautious actions and behaviour (1557), to an agent noun (1570) and to the construction wary of (1580);^[2] in early examples wary in had the sense now expressed by wary of.^[2] It was used of animals from 1614.^[2] From 1605 to 1812 it also meant careful with money, thrifty,^[2] a sense Merriam-Webster still lists as "provident, economical".^[7] Johnson (1755) defined it as "cautious; scrupulous; timorously prudent".^[16]

Timeline

• late 15th century – first use according to Etymonline and the Shorter Oxford.^[9][3]
• 1552 – habitually cautious, circumspect.^[2][4]
• 1557 – of behaviour, showing caution.^[2]
• 1580 – wary of.^[2]
• 1599 – on one's guard, in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.^[2]
• 1605 – thrifty, provident (obsolete by 1812).^[2]
• 1614 – of animals.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Cautious and watchful about possible danger or trouble; on one's guard: The villagers were wary of strangers.^[17][7][3]
2. Showing or proceeding from caution: a wary glance.^[17][2]
3. (obsolete) Careful in spending; thrifty, provident.^[7][2]

Word family

• warily
• wariness
• overwary
• unwary

Related words

• ware
• aware
• beware
• weary
• leery

Usage notes

The OED has two other words spelled wary, both obsolete: a noun meaning a felon or outlaw (Old English to 1275), and a verb meaning to curse (Old English to 1748), which survived in Lancashire dialect.^[2][18] The Random House dictionary distinguishes wary from weary and leery.^[19]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
9. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
11. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
12. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
15. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
16. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
17. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
18. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
19. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House