chary

Meaning

Adj

1. Careful, cautious, shy, wary.
2. Excessively particular or fussy about details; fastidious.
3. Not disposed to give freely; not lavish; frugal, sparing.
4. (obsolete) Cared for, regarded as precious; cherished.

Adv

Synonym of charily: carefully, cautiously, warily.

Synonyms

wary

cautious

careful

circumspect

cagy

canny

cagey

fastidious

sparing

frugal

chary of

guarded

thrifty

gingerly

gingery

greedy

heedful

humble

longsighted

maidenly

mindful

miserly

niggardly

noncommittal

observing

offish

painstaking

parsimonious

particular

prudent

prudential

qualified

regardful

reserved

scrupulous

shy

sorrowful

spare

stingy

tactful

thoughtful

uncommunicative

undemonstrative

ungenerous

vigilant

visionary

wakeful

watchful

precautious

advertent

hoful

attentive

avaricious

chaste

close

dainty

decent

deliberate

demure

discreet

disillusioned

distrustful

economical

Hyphenated as

cha‧ry

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈtʃɛəɹi/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: chari

Inherited from Middle English: cearig

Inherited from Old English: ċeariġ

Cognate with Danish: karrig

Cognate with Dutch: karig

Cognate with Norwegian: karrig

Cognate with Old High German: charag

Cognate with German: karg

Cognate with Old Saxon: carag

Cognate with Swedish: karg

In summary

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.