A transparent Old English compound: ēar 'ear' + hring 'ring,' virtually unchanged in a thousand years.
A straightforward compound of ear + hring 'ring.' Old English ēarhring appears in glossaries around 1000 CE. The word's structure has barely changed in a millennium, though pronunciation has shifted considerably. Key roots: *h₂ews- (Proto-Indo-European: "ear"), *hringaz (Proto-Germanic: "ring, circle").