Meaning

verb decrease gradually or bit by bit

verb cut small bits or pare shavings from

verb strip the skin off

originFrom Middle English paren, from Old French parer (“to arrange, prepare, trim”), from Latin parō (“to prepare, arrange; to provide, furnish; to resolve, purpose”) (related to pariō (“to bear, to give birth to; to spawn, produce, beget; to procure, acquire”)), from a Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to bring forward, bring forth”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0