means a person, place, or thing under someone's protection or guardianship — or, as a verb, the act of guarding against or keeping something off.

from From Old English 'weard,' meaning a guard, keeper, or watchman, rooted in a Proto-Germanic word for watching and protecting. It's a close cousin of 'guard' — the two are the same idea wearing different clothes, 'guard' having come the long way round through Old French. The same root spreads into 'warden,' 'wardrobe' (a place that guards your clothes), and the watchful '-ward' that tells you which way to look.