The spelling of the word "were guard" can be explained using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) transcription of /wɛər ɡɑrd/. The first part, "were," is spelled with a silent "e" indicating the vowel sound is a long /ɛə/. The second part, "guard," is spelled with a hard "g" and pronounced with the phoneme /ɡ/ instead of /dʒ/. Together, "were guard" refers to a person who acted as a guard during a certain period of time.
The term "were" in "were guard" is a contraction of the Old English word "wer", which means "man" or "adult male". In Old English, "were" was used to indicate the male gender, similar to how "wif" represented females. The word "guard" on the other hand, has its origins in Middle English, borrowed from the Old French word "garde", meaning "to watch" or "to protect". The combination "were guard" was commonly used in the context of medieval literature and refers to a male guardian or protector.