-ly
See also: Appendix:Variations of "ly"
English
editPronunciation
editEtymology 1
editFrom Middle English -ly, -li, -lik, -lich, -like, from Old English -līċ, from Proto-West Germanic *-līk, from Proto-Germanic *-līkaz (“having the body or form of”), from *līką (“body”) (whence lich). In form, probably influenced by Old Norse -ligr (“-ly”) (Norwegian Bokmål -lig, Faroese -ligur, Icelandic -legur). Cognate with Dutch -lijk, German -lich, Danish -lig and Swedish -lig. Doublet of -like, more at like.
Suffix
edit-ly
- Used to form adjectives from nouns, the adjectives having the sense of "behaving like, or having a nature typical of what is denoted by the noun" Similar in meaning to -like but most often paired with animate nouns.
- Used to form adjectives from nouns, the adjectives having the sense of "appearing like, resembling, or having the likeness of what is denoted by the noun".
- Used to form adjectives from nouns specifying time intervals, the adjectives having the sense of "occurring at such intervals".
Synonyms
edit- -ish
- -like
- -y
- (suggesting degree) -ous
- (suggesting degree) -some
- (likeness or resemblance) -oid, quasi-, para-, -form/-iform, -esque, -some, (restricted to casual registers) -ass, (forms adjectives from nouns only) -like
Derived terms
editTranslations
editforming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
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forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "occurring at such intervals"
Etymology 2
editFrom Middle English -ly, -li, -liche, from Old English -līċe.
Suffix
edit-ly
- Used to form adverbs from adjectives and nouns.
- sudden + -ly → suddenly
- eerie + -ly → eerily
- year + -ly → yearly
- gluey + -ly → gluily
- docile + -ly → docilely
- irretrievable + -ly → irretrievably
- sly + -ly → slyly
- whole + -ly → wholly
- ugly + -ly → uglily
- ill + -ly → illy
- subtle + -ly → subtly
- disheartening + -ly → dishearteningly
Usage notes
editIn prescriptive usage, derived adverbs in -ly are often preferred to those which are identical in form to the base adjective (e.g., badly instead of bad), despite the fact that the latter have been in continuous use since the earliest stages of the language and represent the norm in languages closely related to English, such as Dutch and German. This is the cause of hypercorrections such as I feel badly (where feel actually represents a copular verb, which traditionally requires an adjectival complement rather than an adverb).
Various sound changes and spelling changes occur for -ly:
- If an adjective ends with a consonant followed by y, it changes into i before adding the suffix (e.g. ready > readily, easy > easily). Speakers who pronounce final unstressed -y as /i/ replace this vowel sound with /ɪ/ or /ə/ before -ly.
- If an adjective ends with -ary, the stress is often moved to the -a- in the derived adjective in -arily.
- If an adjective ends with ll, one l drops out to avoid a triple letter (e.g. full > fully, shrill > shrilly). The pronunciation may or may not be simplified to have a single /l/ sound: this is normal in frequent words such as fully, but less frequent words such as shrilly may be pronounced with double /ll/.
- If an adjective ends with a syllabic /l̩/ (spelled -le after a consonant), euphony causes the -le to drop out. Examples include -ably and -ibly, but also noble > nobly, ample > amply, and idle > idly, among others.
- Adjectives ending in -ic generally take -ally (public > publicly being an exception).
- If an adjective ends with -ed, the pronunciation is sometimes changed from /d/ or /t/ to /ɪd/ before -ly. For example, deserved /dɪˈzɜː(ɹ)vd/ and deservedly /dɪˈzɜː(ɹ)vɪdli/.
Derived terms
editTranslations
editused to form adverbs from adjectives
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See also
editAnagrams
editMiddle English
editEtymology 1
editFrom Old English -līċ. Related to lich.
Alternative forms
edit- -lich, -liche, -lyche, -lych, -li, -lie, -lye, -like, -lik, -lyke, -lyk, -le, -lei, -lice, -lic, -liȝ, -lece, -luch
Pronunciation
editSuffix
edit-ly (comparative -lyere, superlative -lyest)
- Used to form adjectives from nouns, the adjectives having the sense of "like or characteristic of what is denoted by the noun".
- Appended to adjectives in order to render meaning of the adjective either more intense or more approximate.
Usage notes
edit- -ly is generally the most common variant of this suffix, though in some words, other variants may be more common, such as -lich(e).
Derived terms
editDescendants
editReferences
edit- “-lī, suf.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 7 April 2018.
Etymology 2
editFrom Old English -līċe, itself a combination of the adjective-forming suffix -līċ (see etymology 1 above) and the adverbial suffix -e.
Alternative forms
edit- -lich, -liche, -lyche, -lych, -li, -lie, -lye, -like, -lik, -licke, -lyke, -lyk, -lycke, -leche, -le, -lei, -loche, -lice, -liȝ, -luche
Pronunciation
editSuffix
edit-ly (comparative -lyere, superlative -lyest)
- Used to form adverbs from adjectives, and nouns; the adverbs having the sense of "in the manner of what is denoted by the adjective/noun".
- Optionally appended to adverbs without suffixes with no change to the meaning.
Usage notes
edit- As with its adjectival equivalent, -ly is generally the most common variant of this suffix, though in some words, other variants may be more common, such as -lich(e).
Derived terms
editDescendants
editReferences
edit- “-lī, suf.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 7 April 2018.
Categories:
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *leyg- (like)
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English doublets
- English lemmas
- English suffixes
- English adjective-forming suffixes
- English productive suffixes
- English adverb-forming suffixes
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Middle English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *leyg- (like)
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- Middle English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Middle English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Middle English terms inherited from Old English
- Middle English terms derived from Old English
- Middle English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English suffixes