YSK because text-based communication demands clarity, and this mistake can be confusing for both native English speakers and English learners alike.
I’ve seen many people online writing “weary” when the context of the rest of their posts suggest they mean “wary.” Here are Merriam-Webster definitions for each:
- exhausted in strength, endurance, vigor, or freshness
- marked by keen caution, cunning, and watchfulness especially in detecting and escaping danger
Hope this helps somebody out there who may not know the difference or has been confused by the words :)
weary -> wear and tear
wary -> (hyper) aware
I’m weary of people who make this mistake.
I’m wary of those same people.
i remember watching a documentary on… something, idk and a woman described herself as ‘leery’ around a suspicious character. i’m near certain it was a true crime doc and don’t want to make fun because of that but the transformation of wary > weary > leery really is something
But wouldn’t ‘leery’ make sense there? It means something close to ‘suspicious’ after all.
huh, you’re right. i’d assumed it was related to the verb ‘leer’ meaning ‘leery’ would mean intimidating or perverted.
