Wore

Wore is the simple past tense of the verb wear. Wear has several related senses, including having clothing or accessories on the body, bearing or carrying something, and becoming worn or eroded through use. The past participle is worn, and the present tense forms are wear (I wear, you wear, they wear) and wears (he wears). Wore is irregular.

In everyday use, wore typically describes clothing: “She wore a blue dress to the party.” It can also describe carrying or bearing something: “The pack wore a heavy load.” The verb also appears in idiomatic expressions related to use and aging, such as time wearing on, wear (something) down, wear (something) away, wear (something) out, wear off, and wear in. These phrasal verbs convey gradual change through duration, friction, or repeated use.

Worn is the past participle and is used with have/has/had and in adjectival form. Examples: “She has worn that jacket before.” As an adjective, worn describes something that has been used or is in a used, aged, or frayed condition: “worn shoes” or “worn carpet.”

Etymology notes: wear is of Germanic origin and has cognates in related languages; its irregular past tense wore reflects historical vowel changes common to some English verbs. The word remains productive in many expressions and compounds, making it a core element of basic English usage.