bearish

English

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH-der.?

Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH-der.

Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰwer-der.

Proto-Germanic *berô

Proto-West Germanic *berō

Old English bera

Middle English bere

English bear

Proto-Indo-European *-iskos

Proto-Germanic *-iskaz

Proto-West Germanic *-isk

Old English -isċ

Middle English -isch

English -ish

English bearish

From bear + -ish.

bearish (comparative more bearish, superlative most bearish)

Resembling or likened to a bear, typically in being rough, surly, or clumsy.
(stock market, of the price of financial instruments) Characterized by or expecting falling prices.
- 2011 July 18, John Cassidy, “Mastering the Machine”, in The New Yorker‎^[1], →ISSN, archived from the original on 27 September 2026:
  At the start of the year, Bridgewater turned bearish on U.S. bonds and built up a short position.
(by extension) Pessimistic about the future.
- 2014, Barton Biggs, Biggs on Finance, Economics, and the Stock Market: Barton's Market Chronicles from the Morgan Stanley Years‎^[2], John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN:
  The Germans were downcast because of Eastern Europe and Helmut Schmidt's decline, the Arabs were depressed because of oil and Iraq, the French were bearish because of their government; only the British seemed a little upbeat, but that was before the Falkland Islands incident.

having the qualities of a bear

characterized by the falling price of a financial instrument