chary

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

chary

/ˈt͡ʃɛəɹi/ UK
/ˈt͡ʃɛɹi/ US
/ˈt͡ʃɛəɹi/ US
/ˈt͡ʃeː.ɹi/ Australia
/ˈt͡ʃeəɹi/ New Zealand
/ˈt͡ʃiəɹi/
/ˈt͡ʃeɹɪ/ Scotland
/ˈt͡ʃeɹe/ Scotland
/ˈt͡ʃɜːɹɪ/

Sounds like cherry (Mary–marry–merry merger), cheery (cheer–chair merger) · Rhymes with -ɛəɹi

Where it comes from

From Middle English chari, charre, charri, chary, Early Middle English cearig, chariȝ (“concerned with, diligent; sad, sorrowful; of a person: cherished, loved”), from Old English ċeariġ (“careful; pensive; chary, wary; anxious, sad, sorrowful; dire, grievous”), from Proto-West Germanic *karag (“anxious; sad”), from Proto-Germanic *karō + *-gaz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵeh₂r- (“exclamation; voice”) + *-kos (suffix forming adjectives with the meaning ‘pertaining to; typical of’)); analysable as care + -y.

The English word is cognate with Danish karrig (“miserly, stingy”), Dutch karig (“austere, scant, sparing”), Norwegian karrig (“barren; meagre; poor”), Old High German charag, karag (“sparing”) (modern German karg (“barren; meagre, poor”)), Old Saxon carag, karag, Swedish karg (“austere; barren; hungry; needy, poor”). See further at care.

adjective charier · chariest

Careful, cautious, shy, wary. The Charieſt maide is prodigall enough, / If ſhe vnmaske hir beautie to the Moone.
Similar: alert, attentive, careful, cautelous, cautious, canny, chary, circumspect, conservative, deliberate, discreet, guarded · Opposite: unchary, careless, cursory, derelict, heedless, irregardless, irrespective, lash, lax, incautious, neglectful, negligent
Excessively particular or fussy about details; fastidious. True, the wreath might have been improved with a little more care; [...] Though, after all, we are, perhaps, too chary; for in nature every leaf is not ironed out to a form, nor propped up with a wiry precision; but blown and ruffled by the refreshing breezes, and looking as easy, and careless, and
Opposite: unchary
Not disposed to give freely; not lavish; frugal, sparing. Oh! look not thus o'erjoy'd, for if I thought / We e'er could meet again this side the grave, / Trust me, I had been charier of my tenderness.
Opposite: unchary
obsolete Cared for, regarded as precious; cherished. The bounty so much delighted mine host, that he ran to fill the stirrup-cup (for which no charge was ever made) from a butt yet charier than that which he had pierced for the former stoup.
Opposite: unchary

adverb more chary · most chary

Synonym of charily: carefully, cautiously, warily. O therefore loue be of thy ſelfe ſo wary, / As I not for my ſelfe, but for thee will, / Bearing thy heart, which I will keep ſo chary / As tender nurſe her babe from faring ill, [...]
Similar: cannily, carefully, charily, chary, conservatively, discreetly, gingerly, prudently, safely, tentatively, warily · Opposite: carelessly, incautiously, uncarefully, uncautiously, unwarily

Translations

Every language

adj careful, cautious — see also careful, cautious

Deutsch	vorsichtig

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"chary." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/chary. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

chary. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/chary

Chicago

"chary." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/chary.

BibTeX

@misc{chary_2026,
  title = {chary},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/chary},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}