Wear
Old English werian, of Germanic origin, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin vestis ‘clothing’.
wiktionary
From Middle English weren, werien, from Old English werian(“to clothe, cover over; put on, wear, use; stock (land)”), from Proto-West Germanic *waʀjan, from Proto-Germanic *wazjaną(“to clothe”), from Proto-Indo-European *wes-(“to dress, put on (clothes)”).
Cognate to Sanskrit वस्ते(váste), Ancient Greek ἕννυμι(hénnumi, “put on”), Latin vestis(“garment”) (English vest), Albanian vesh(“dress up, wear”), Tocharian B wäs-, Old Armenian զգենում(zgenum), Welsh gwisgo, Hittite 𒉿𒀸-(waš-).
From Middle English weren, werien, from Old English werian(“to guard, keep, defend; ward off, hinder, prevent, forbid; restrain; occupy, inhabit; dam up; discharge obligations on (land)”), from Proto-West Germanic *warjan, from Proto-Germanic *warjaną(“to defend, protect, ward off”), from Proto-Indo-European *wer-(“to close, cover, protect, save, defend”).
Cognate with Scots wer, weir(“to defend, protect”), Dutch weren(“to aver, ward off”), German wehren(“to fight”), Swedish värja(“to defend, ward off”), Icelandic verja(“to defend”).
wear (plural wears)
etymonline
wear (v.)
Old English werian "to clothe, put on, cover up," from Proto-Germanic *wasīn- (source also of Old Norse verja, Old High German werian, Gothic gawasjan "to clothe"), from PIE *wos-eyo-, suffixed form of *wes- (2) "to clothe," extended form of root *eu- "to dress."
The Germanic forms "were homonyms of the vb. for 'prevent, ward off, protect' (Goth. warjan, O.E. werian, etc.), and this was prob. a factor in their early displacement in most of the Gmc. languages" [Buck]. It shifted from a weak verb (past tense and past participle wered) to a strong one (past tense wore, past participle worn) in 14c. on analogy of rhyming strong verbs such as bear and tear. Secondary sense of "use up, gradually damage" (late 13c.) is from effect of continued use on clothes. To wear down (transitive) "overcome by steady force" is from 1843. To wear off "diminish by attrition or use" is from 1690s.
wear (n.)
"action of wearing" (clothes), mid-15c., from wear (v.). Meaning "what one wears" is 1560s. To be the worse for wear is attested from 1782; noun phrase wear and tear is first recorded 1660s, implying the sense "process of being degraded by use."
