Etymology

bearish

B3E1A1R1I1S1H4

Today it means: Resembling or likened to a bear, typically in being rough, surly, or clumsy. Full definition →

English bear ← Middle English bere ← Old English bera
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*bʰerH-der.?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*bʰerH-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*ǵʰwer-
  4. Proto-Germanic*berô
  5. Proto-West Germanic*berō
  6. Old Englishbera
  7. Middle Englishbere
  8. Englishbear
  9. English todaybearish

From bear + -ish.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.