What does worn mean?
Worn is an adjective that describes something diminished by prolonged use, often with visible fraying, thinning, or damage. A coat may be worn at the elbows, while a path becomes worn smooth because generations have followed it. Worn can also describe a person as exhausted or diminished by fatigue, hardship, or anxiety. In this sense, it carries a slightly literary or sympathetic tone, whereas describing damaged objects is broadly neutral. Grammatically, worn is also the past participle of wear, so a phrase such as “a crown worn by successive rulers” uses the participle adjectivally. The word is especially useful because it joins physical description with metaphor: wear can record the ordinary passage of time, while the same idea can extend to people depleted by difficult conditions. Its Old English ancestry also connects modern descriptions of frayed clothing and tired workers to a long history of expressing use, clothing, and exhaustion through the same Germanic verb.
Damaged, thinned, frayed, or otherwise deteriorated through prolonged use; of a person, exhausted or worn down.
"The river stones were worn smooth by the current."
When describing physical deterioration, worn is broadly neutral. When describing a person's condition, it can be formal or literary and may imply prolonged strain.
The past participle of wear, used in passive and perfect constructions and sometimes before a noun as a participial adjective.
"The crown had been worn by generations of monarchs."
In a passive construction, worn forms the perfect passive with have or be; before a noun, it functions adjectivally.
Worn hides a small piece of time: every smooth stone and frayed cuff records another journey.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does worn come from?
Worn is the Middle English participial form of wear and is now both an adjective and the verb's past participle. Wear ultimately comes from Old English werian, “to clothe oneself,” a Germanic verb with relatives including Dutch weren, Icelandic vera, and German wahren, whose modern meaning has shifted toward preserving or safeguarding. The distinct vowel in worn belongs to the historical development of the English participial paradigm.
Related word forms
How worn is actually used
The adjective is neutral in ordinary descriptions of objects and slightly literary when describing a person's fatigue or hardship. There is no significant British–US difference in meaning; only linked-speech pronunciation varies.
Easily confused with worn
Worn describes damage or exhaustion caused by use, whereas warn means to alert someone to a possible danger or problem.