Warry

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Marked by caution and vigilance against possible danger or deception
2. Showing careful watchfulness and distrust toward potential threats or risks
3. Displaying hesitant caution and careful attention to what might go wrong

Etymology: Its oldest recorded sense has nothing to do with fighting. Old English "wirġan" meant "to curse" or "to revile," and that is the verb that eventually became Middle English "warien" and then this word. The Old English form descends from a Proto-Germanic verb, "wargijaną", also meaning "to curse." The spelling can mislead, because it looks like "war" with the suffix "-y" attached. That combination is a separate formation in English, not the source of the verb. The Germanic verb and the English noun "war" do not share a clear line of descent in this word's history. Further back still lies the Proto-Indo-European root "wer-", meaning "to twist, bend, crook," which is the distant ancestor of the Germanic verb.