What does beare mean?
"Beare" is an obsolete form of the English verb "bear," which means to carry a load, to support weight, or to endure hardship. The spelling reflects an era before English orthography was standardized, when writers rendered the same word variously as bear, beare, and bare. In texts from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, one might read that a servant did beare a message, or that a mourner could hardly beare her grief — meanings identical to those of the modern verb. Today the word survives only in historical documents, literature of earlier periods, and scholarly discussion of the history of English. Readers encountering it should understand it exactly as they would "bear": a word of carrying and endurance, with connotations of burden, duty, and fortitude. For all modern purposes, the standard spelling "bear" has fully replaced it.
verb (archaic)"Beare" is an obsolete spelling of "bear," meaning to carry, support, or endure. It appears chiefly in older English texts and is no longer in standard modern use.
- (Archaic) To carry, convey, or support something.
- (Archaic) To endure or tolerate hardship.
"The messenger did beare the king's letter across the realm."
"The squire did beare his lord's shield into battle."
"She could scarcely beare the weight of such sorrow."
Before spelling settled down, English writers spelled the same word as bear, beare, and even bare — sometimes all in one sentence.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of beare
"Beare" descends from Old English "beran," meaning to carry or bring forth, which traces back through Proto-Germanic *beraną to the Proto-Indo-European root *bʰer- (to carry). This ancient root also produced Latin "ferre" and its many descendants, making "bear" a distant cousin of words like "transfer" and "refer." The "beare" spelling was common in Middle and Early Modern English before orthographic standardization fixed the modern form "bear."
How beare is actually used
"Beare" is strictly archaic and should be used only when quoting or imitating early modern English texts; in all contemporary writing, use "bear."
Easily confused with beare
"Bear" is the modern standard spelling of the verb (and of the animal noun), while "beare" is an obsolete variant found only in historical texts.
"Bare" means uncovered or naked, whereas "beare" was simply an old spelling of the verb "bear" meaning to carry or endure.