Meaning and usage of the word gear in English

The word "gear" has its origin in Old English and Middle English. In Old English, the word "gear" referred to a set of things, a collection or a company. The word was also used to describe a toothed wheel or a cog, especially in a machine or a mechanism. Over time, the meaning of "gear" expanded to include the notion of shifting or changing, as in "changing gears" to indicate switching between different levels of complexity or difficulty. This sense of the word is often used in mechanical contexts, such as in the phrase "gear shifting" to describe the process of altering the gear ratio in a vehicle's transmission. The word "gear" has also been adapted into many modern languages, including French ("gear"), Spanish ("gear"), and German ("Zahn").