Etymology
1. From Middle English dere, from Old English dēore, dīere, dīore, dȳre (“of great value or excellence, expensive, beloved”), from Proto-West Germanic *diurī, from Proto-Germanic *diurijaz (“dear, precious; expensive”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- (“to burn; hot, warm”).
2. Cognates
3. Cognate with Yola dear (“dear”), Saterland Frisian djuur (“precious, dear, costly, expensive”), Alemannic German tüür (“expensive”), Dutch dier, duur (“expensive”), German teuer (“expensive”), Vilamovian taojer, tojer (“dear”), West Flemish diere (“expensive”), Yiddish טײַער (tayer, “expensive”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish dyr (“expensive”), Faroese dýrur (“expensive”), Icelandic dýr (“expensive”), Finnish tyyris (“expensive”), Livonian tõurõz (“dear”), Northern Sami divrras (“expensive”). See: Middle English Nouns '
dere', Old English Nouns '
dēore', Dutch Nouns '
dier', Faroese Nouns '
dýrur', Icelandic Nouns '
dýr', Finnish Nouns '
tyyris'.