Word of the Day

: April 10, 2025

chary

adjective CHAIR-ee

What It Means

Chary is usually used with about or of to describe someone who is cautious about doing something.

// The director is chary about spending money.

// I’ve always been chary of travelling alone.

See the entry >

chary in Context

“Overall, Rendell is chary about divulging the selling price of various documents, but he does occasionally reveal some financial details.” — Michael Dirda, The Washington Post, 3 Feb. 2024

Did You Know?

How did chary, which began as the opposite of cheery, become a synonym of wary? Don’t worry, there’s no need to be chary—the answer is not dreary. Chary’s Middle English predecessor, charri, meant “sorrowful,” a sense that harks back to the Old English word cearig, meaning “troubled, troublesome, taking care,” which ultimately comes from an assumed-but-unattested Germanic word, karō, meaning “sorrow” or “worry,” that is also an ancestor of the word care. It’s perhaps unsurprising then, that chary was once used to mean “dear” or “cherished.” Both sorrow and affection have largely faded from chary, and today the word is most often used as a synonym of careful.