Looking tired, old, or sad because of worry, stress, or hard work over a long time.
From 'care' (worry, burden) plus 'worn' (past participle of 'wear', meaning damaged or tired from use). The compound emerged by the 1700s to describe someone literally worn down by cares and troubles.
Before modern psychology, English had beautiful compound adjectives like 'careworn,' 'grief-stricken,' and 'heartbroken' that treated emotions as physical things that could wear down or break the body—this shows how people experienced mental distress as literal bodily damage.
Visual and emotional coding of 'careworn' predominantly describes women burdened by unpaid care labor. Iconography emphasizes exhaustion of women caregivers while men's stress is framed differently.
Use 'careworn' to describe anyone bearing care burdens, but recognize gendered expectations that produce disproportionate exhaustion in women.
Women's unpaid care labor has sustained economies and families; language should honor this work rather than only marking burnout as burden.
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