People or things that are loved or precious, or a term of affection; can also mean 'costs a lot' when used as a verb.
From Old English 'deore,' meaning precious or valuable. The word originally referred to something that was worth a high price, then evolved to describe beloved people because they were considered valuable and irreplaceable.
The word 'dear' started as a way to describe expensive items, then people figured out that calling someone 'dear' showed they were precious to you—basically, you were saying they're priceless, which is why it became a term of endearment.
Term of endearment historically used to infantilize women, especially in workplace/authority contexts; naturalizes power imbalance via false intimacy.
Avoid in professional/mixed contexts; use names or neutral forms of address. In intimate contexts, mutually agreed.
["everyone","friends","colleagues"]
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