Etymology

aware

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Today it means: Vigilant or on one's guard against danger or difficulty. Full definition →

Middle English aware, iwar, iware, ywar ← Old English ġewær ← Proto-West Germanic *gawar
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*worós“attentive”
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*gawar
  3. Old English · inherited fromġewær“aware”
  4. Middle English · inherited fromaware, iwar, iware, ywar
  5. English todayaware

Inherited from Middle English aware, iwar, iware, ywar, from Old English ġewær (“aware”), from Proto-West Germanic *gawar, from Proto-Germanic *waraz (“aware, cautious”), from Proto-Indo-European *worós (“attentive”), from *wer- (“to heed; watch out”). Cognate with Dutch gewaar, German gewahr, Danish var, Swedish var, Icelandic varr.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.