chary
/ˈt͡ʃɛɹi/
"chary" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“chary” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as an adjective - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Careful, cautious, shy, wary.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | chary |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈt͡ʃɛɹi/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “chary” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for chary is 5 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈt͡ʃɛɹi/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for chary, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: 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, grievo… The correct English form is chary, spelled C-H-A-R-Y.
Definition
- 1Careful, cautious, shy, wary.
- 2Excessively particular or fussy about details; fastidious.
- 3Not disposed to give freely; not lavish; frugal, sparing.
- 4Cared for, regarded as precious; cherished.
Etymology
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.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “chary”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-H-A-R-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈt͡ʃɛɹi/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.