ware

¹

[ wair ]

noun

1. Usually wares.
   1. articles of merchandise or manufacture; goods:

      a peddler selling his wares.

   2. any intangible items, as services or products of artistic or intellectual creativity, that are saleable:

      an actor advertising his wares.

2. a specified kind or class of merchandise or of manufactured article (usually used in combination): -ware.

   silverware;

   glassware.

3. pottery, or a particular kind of pottery:

   delft ware.

4. Archaeology. a group of ceramic types classified according to paste and texture, surface modification, as burnish or glaze, and decorative motifs rather than shape and color.

ware

²

[ wair ]

adjective

1. watchful, wary, or cautious.
2. aware; conscious.

verb (used with object)

, wared, war·ing.

1. to beware of (usually used in the imperative).

ware

³

[ wair ]

verb (used with object)

, Scot. and North England.

, wared, war·ing.

1. to spend; expend.

ware

⁴

[ wair ]

noun

, Scot. and North England.

1. the first season in the year; spring.

-ware

⁵

1. a combining form extracted from software, occurring as the final element in words that refer to a specified kind or class of software: ware ¹( def 2 ).

   spyware;

   shareware.

ware

¹

/ wɛə /

verb

1. another word for beware

adjective

1. another word for wary wise 1

ware

²

/ wɛə /

noun

1. functioning as singular articles of the same kind or material

   glassware

   silverware

2. porcelain or pottery of a specified type

   jasper ware

   agateware

ware

³

/ wɛə /

verb

1. dialect.
   tr to spend or squander

–ware

1. A suffix that means “software,” as in shareware.

Word History and Origins

Origin of ware¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English waru; cognate with German Ware

Origin of ware²

First recorded before 900; Middle English adjective; Old English adjective wær; cognate with German gewahr “aware,” Old Norse varr “aware”

Origin of ware³

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Old Norse verja “to spend, invest”

Origin of ware⁴

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Old Norse vār “spring”; perhaps akin to Latin vēr, Greek éar “spring”; vernal

Word History and Origins

Origin of ware¹

Old English wær; related to Old Saxon, Old High German giwar, Old Norse varr, Gothic war, Latin vereor. See aware , beware

Origin of ware²

Old English waru; related to Old Frisian were, Old Norse vara, Middle Dutch Ware

Origin of ware³

C15: of Scandinavian origin; related to Icelandic verja

Example Sentences

The dance-pop diva Jessie Ware teams up with the English producer Salute for this ecstatic banger.

From New York Times

Ware’s vocals lend a dreamy, devotional quality to Salute’s garage-inspired beat, which briefly drops out toward the end for a quick trip to church, complete with a heavenly choir of multi-tracked Wares.

From New York Times

National Highways said the road was expected to remain closed throughout Tuesday morning, while enquiries ware carried out.

From BBC

“As part of the merger process, meals, service ware and other soft elements have been upgraded and incorporates aspects of both Vistara and Air India,” an Air India spokesperson said in an email response.

From BBC

To-Go Ware is a local company based in Chico, Calif. — D.V.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• commodity
• fabric
• merchandise
• textile

Words That Use -ware

What does -ware mean?

The combining form –ware is used like a suffix meaning “software,” a program used to direct a computer. It is occasionally used in technical terms, especially in computer science.

The form –ware comes from the word software. The word software itself was coined around 1955 to contrast with hardware, a much older term used to refer to mechanical equipment. Learn more at our entry for hardware.

Examples of -ware

One example of a term from computer science that features the suffix –ware is spyware, “software that is installed surreptitiously and gathers information about an internet user’s browsing habits, intercepts the user’s personal data, etc., transmitting this information to a third party.”

The spy– part of the word here literally refers to “the act of observing secretly.” As we have seen, –ware means “software.” Spyware literally means “software for observing secretly.”

What are some words that use the combining form –ware?

• courseware
• firmware
• freeware
• groupware
• trialware

What are some other forms that –ware may be commonly confused with?

• -ward
• -wards

Outside of computer science, many words that end with the exact letters –ware, such as kitchenware or glassware, are not necessarily using the combining form –ware to denote “software.” Learn why glassware means “articles made of glass” at our entry for the word.

Break it down!

Given the meaning of the combining form –ware, what does freeware literally mean?