Etymology

wear

W4E1A1R1

Today it means: To carry or have equipped on or about one's body, as an item of clothing, equipment, decoration, perfume, etc. Full definition →

Middle English weren ← Old English werian ← Proto-West Germanic *waʀjan
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

wear · verb, noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*wes-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*woséyeti
  3. Proto-Germanic*wazjaną
  4. Proto-West Germanic*waʀjan
  5. Old Englishwerian
  6. Middle Englishweren
  7. English todaywear

Inherited from Middle English weren, from Old English werian (“to clothe, cover over; put on, wear, use; stock (land)”), from Proto-West Germanic *waʀjan, from Proto-Germanic *wazjaną (“to clothe”), from Proto-Indo-European *wes- (“to dress, put on (clothes)”). Compare weary. Cognate to Sanskrit वस्ते (váste), Ancient Greek ἕννυμι (hénnumi, “put on”), Latin vestis (“garment”) (English vest), Albanian vesh (“dress up, wear”), Tocharian B wäs-, Old Armenian զգենում (zgenum), Welsh gwisgo, Hittite 𒉿𒀸- (waš-). Originally a weak verb (i.e. with a past tense in -ed), it became irregular during the Middle English period by analogy with verbs like beren (whence bear) and teren (whence tear).

wear · verb2

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*wer-“to close, cover, protect, save, defend”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*warjaną“to defend, protect, ward off”
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*warjan
  4. Old English · inherited fromwerian“to guard, keep, defend; ward off, hinder, prevent, forbid; restrain; occupy, inhabit; dam up; discharge obligations on (land)”
  5. Middle English · inherited fromweren
  6. English todaywear

From Middle English weren, werien, from Old English werian (“to guard, keep, defend; ward off, hinder, prevent, forbid; restrain; occupy, inhabit; dam up; discharge obligations on (land)”), from Proto-West Germanic *warjan, from Proto-Germanic *warjaną (“to defend, protect, ward off”), from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to close, cover, protect, save, defend”). Cognate with Scots wer, weir (“to defend, protect”), Dutch weren (“to aver, ward off”), German wehren (“to fight”), Swedish värja (“to defend, ward off”), Icelandic verja (“to defend”).

Wear · proper noun3

  1. Latin · derived fromVedra
  2. English todayWear

Probably identical with British Latin Vedra, itself of Celtic origin.

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*wes- all →

oddgazonvilipendwastel

Proto-West Germanic*warjan all →

weir

Proto-Germanic*warjaną all →

garagewarrenweirguarantyguarishwarish

Proto-Indo-European*wer- all →

garagewardrewardwarewarnweirguarantyreverencegarnishprosaic-erforwarn-oramavarenykywarguswarry

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.