Who came up with the word ajar?

Answer 1

The word 'ajar' means (of a door, window, lid, and so on) 'slightly open'.

It can be traced back to the Old English* term, cier, or cierr, meaning 'a turn' or 'on the turn', which became, in Middle English**, char.

By the 1700s in England, the term had become on char.

The modern word ajar is first documented in English in 1718, and is thought to have come from a char, a Scottish variant of on char.

*Old English: before about 1100.

**Middle English: before the mid 1400s.

Another, unrelated and now rarely-used meaning of 'ajar'describes something which is not in harmony (with others, or with surroundings, and so on). This word is from the 1520s English word, (to) jar, meaning to annoy, irritate, to make a harsh or unpleasant sound.

That term became at jar, meaning at discord, and finally, ajar. The modern word, jar, is still commonly used in this sense, as in jarring, or jarred, suggesting something discordant, or out of harmony.