English
gear
Gear comes from Middle English gere, borrowed from Old Norse gervi ‘apparel’, from Proto-Germanic *garwijaną ‘to prepare’.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*garwijaną1‘to prepare’reconstructed
- Old Norsec. 800–1350gervi1‘gear, apparel’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gere1‘equipment, gear’
- Englishearliest quotation 1551gear1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English gear
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1551, Thomas More, (please specify the Internet Archive page): “Homely gear and common ware.”.
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*garwijanąWiktionary, English gear‘to prepare’reconstructed
- Old Norsec. 800–1350gerviWiktionary, English gear‘gear, apparel’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gereWiktionary, English gear‘equipment, gear’
- Englishearliest quotation 1551gearWiktionary, English gear. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1551, Thomas More, (please specify the Internet Archive page): “Homely gear and common ware.”
A compound of *ga- ‘Indicates association or togetherness’ + *garwaz ‘ready, prepared’
Proto-Indo-European *ḱe ‘Deictic particle, here’
Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm ‘beside, near, by, with’
Proto-Germanic *ga- ‘Indicates association or togetherness’
Proto-Indo-European *h₃er- ‘to move, to stir’
Proto-Germanic *arwaz ‘ready, fast’
Proto-Germanic *garwaz ‘ready, prepared’
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with gear, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
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Today it means
noun Equipment or paraphernalia, especially that used for an athletic endeavor.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “gear”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *garwijaną / gear