Warn

How to spell warn

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce warn

What does warn mean?

1. verbTo tell someone in advance of a possible danger, problem, or unwelcome outcome.

Warn in a sentence

• The forecaster will warn residents about the coming storm.

• Managers should warn staff before any major change to the rota.

Where does warn come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word descends directly from the Old English verb warnian, which meant to take heed, to caution, or to give notice of approaching danger. It belongs to the native Germanic stock of English, with close relatives such as the German warnen, all tracing back to a shared root meaning to be wary or on guard. The same family gave English the adjective wary and the noun ward, all of them circling the idea of watchful protection. Because warn has stayed inside English from its earliest recorded form, its spelling has remained refreshingly plain; the only real trap is that it sounds identical to worn, the past participle of wear, so the meaning, not the sound, must decide which spelling you reach for.

How the word is built

• warn (from Old English warnian: to give notice of danger); a single-morpheme verb taking regular endings

Words that sound like warn

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• worn: Damaged, thinned, or made shabby by long and repeated use.