wary

See also: warþ

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈwɛə.ɹi/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈwɛɚ.i/
• Rhymes: -ɛəɹi

Etymology 1

From the adjective ware +‎ -y.

Adjective

wary (comparative warier, superlative wariest)

1. Cautious of danger; carefully watching and guarding against deception, trickery, and dangers; suspiciously prudent

   Synonyms: circumspect, scrupulous, careful

   He is wary of dogs.

2. Characterized by caution; guarded; careful; on one's guard
3. thrifty, provident

Synonyms

• cautious, guarded, careful, chary

Derived terms

• unwarily
• unwary
• warily
• wariness

Translations

cautious of danger; timorously or suspiciously prudent; circumspect; scrupulous

• Afrikaans: please add this translation if you can
• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Amharic: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Aragonese: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: զգույշ (hy) (zguyš)
• Assamese: please add this translation if you can
• Asturian: prudente
• Aymara: amulli
• Azerbaijani: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: асцяро́жны (ascjaróžny) (careful)
• Bengali: please add this translation if you can
• Breton: diskredig, evezieg
• Bulgarian: внимателен (bg) (vnimatelen), предпазлив (bg) (predpazliv)
• Catalan: cautelós
• Cherokee: please add this translation if you can
• Chichewa: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 小心翼翼 (zh) (xiǎoxīn yìyì), 謹慎／谨慎 (zh) (jǐnshèn)

• Danish: varsom (da), forsigtig, på vagt
• Dhivehi: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: behoedzaam (nl)
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: ettevaatlik
• Ewe: please add this translation if you can
• Extremaduran: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: pelätä (fi) (verb: to be wary)
• French: méfiant (fr)
• Friulian: please add this translation if you can
• Galician: cauteloso, precavido
• Georgian: წინდახედული (c̣indaxeduli), ფრთხილი (prtxili)
• German: achtsam (de), umsichtig (de), vorsichtig (de), wachsam (de)
• Greek: επιφυλακτικός (el) (epifylaktikós)
• Gujarati: please add this translation if you can
• Hausa: please add this translation if you can
• Hawaiian: ʻeʻena, ʻāhē
• Hebrew: נזהר m (nizhár), זהיר m (zahír)
• Hindi: सावधान (hi) (sāvdhān)
• Hungarian: gyanakvó (hu), bizalmatlankodó, óvatos (hu)
• Ido: please add this translation if you can
• Igbo: please add this translation if you can
• Indonesian: please add this translation if you can
• Interlingua: please add this translation if you can
• Irish: airdeallach, braiteach, faichilleach
• Italian: diffidente (it) m, accorto (it), circospetto (it)
• Japanese: 用心深い (ja) (yōjin-bukai)
• Javanese: please add this translation if you can
• Kannada: please add this translation if you can
• Khmer: ប្រុងប្រយត្ន័ (prong prɑyat)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: please add this translation if you can
• Latvian: piesardzīgs m, piesardzīga f
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Luganda: please add this translation if you can
• Luxembourgish: virsiichteg
• Macedonian: претпазлив (pretpazliv)
• Malay: hati-hati (ms), waspada
• Malayalam: please add this translation if you can
• Maori: matakana, owhiti, korita, paoke
• Marathi: सावध (sāvadh)
• Mirandese: couteloso
• Occitan: cautelós (oc)
• Polish: czujny (pl), przezorny (pl), ostrożny (pl)
• Portuguese: cauteloso (pt), cuidadoso (pt), de pé atrás
• Russian: насторо́женный (ru) (nastoróžennyj), осторо́жный (ru) (ostoróžnyj) (careful), подозри́тельный (ru) (podozrítelʹnyj) (dustrustful,suspicious)
• Sanskrit: please add this translation if you can
• Sicilian: please add this translation if you can
• Sindhi: please add this translation if you can
• Sinhalese: please add this translation if you can
• Slovak: dávať si pozor, mať sa na pozore
• Slovene: please add this translation if you can
• Somali: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: cauteloso (es), precavido (es)
• Swedish: försiktig (sv), varsam (sv)
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Telugu: please add this translation if you can
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: dikkat etmek (tr), sakınmak (tr)
• Turkmen: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: обере́жний (oberéžnyj) (careful)
• Urdu: please add this translation if you can
• Uyghur: please add this translation if you can
• Uzbek: please add this translation if you can
• Venetian: please add this translation if you can
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• Walloon: please add this translation if you can
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• Xhosa: please add this translation if you can
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• Yoruba: please add this translation if you can
• Zulu: please add this translation if you can

characterized by caution; guarded; careful

• Bulgarian: внимателен (bg) (vnimatelen), бдителен (bg) (bditelen)
• Finnish: varovainen (fi)
• German: vorsichtig (de)
• Hungarian: óvatos (hu), elővigyázatos (hu), körültekintő (hu)
• Italian: cauto (it), vigile (it), accorto (it), circospetto (it), guardingo (it), cauteloso
• Maori: korita
• Portuguese: cauteloso (pt), cuidadoso (pt)
• Russian: осторо́жный (ru) (ostoróžnyj)
• Spanish: cauteloso (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: ^{(please verify)} circonspect (fr)
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} prudente (it) m, ^{(please verify)} sospettoso (it) m
• Old English: ^{(please verify)} ċeariġ

Etymology 2

From Middle English warien, from Old English wierġan (“to curse, do evil”), from Proto-West Germanic *wargijan, from Proto-Germanic *wargijaną (“to condemn, curse”), from Proto-Germanic *wargaz (“criminal”). Doublet of warry.

Verb

wary (third-person singular simple present waries, present participle warying, simple past and past participle waried)

1. (dialectal) To curse, revile.

Related terms

• wargus

See also

• weary

Further reading

• “wary”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Wray, awry, wray

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈva.rɘ/
• Rhymes: -arɘ
• Syllabification: wa‧ry

Noun

wary m inan

1. nominative/accusative/vocative plural of war