-ly

See also ly, LY, and .ly

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: lē, IPA: /li/, SAMPA: /li/

Etymology 1

From Middle English -ly, -li, -lich, from Old English -līċ, from Proto-Germanic *-līkaz (“having the body or form of”), from *līkan (“body”) (whence lich). Cognate with Dutch -lijk, German -lich and Swedish -lig, and with English -like (from Proto-Germanic *līka-).

Suffix

-ly

1. Used to form adjectives from nouns, the adjectives having the sense of "like or characteristic of what is denoted by the noun".

   gentlemanly

Translations

used to form adjectives from nouns

Chinese: Mandarin: (similar function, but used in different ways) 的 (zh) (de) Dutch: -achtig (nl), -lijk (nl), -ig (nl) Esperanto: -a (eo) Finnish: -mainen (fi) French: -ment (fr)

German: -erweise (de) Interlingua: -mente (ia) Latin: -e (la), -iter (la) Portuguese: -mente (pt) Spanish: -mente (es) Swedish: -aktig (sv), -artad (sv), -lig (sv), -isk (sv)

Synonyms

• -ish
• -like
• -ous
• -y

Etymology 2

From Old English -līċe.

Suffix

-ly

1. Used to form adverbs from adjectives.

   suddenly

Derived terms

• -ally

Translations

used to form adverbs from adjectives

Armenian: -բար (hy) (-bar), -որեն (hy) (-oren) Catalan: -ment (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: (similar function, but used in different ways) 地 (zh) (de) Dutch: (the adverb is usually the same as the adjective: no change in form) Esperanto: -e (eo) Finnish: -sti (fi) French: -ment (fr) Galician: -mente (gl) German: -erweise (de) Greek: -ά, -ώς (each replacing the final syllable of the adjective)

Icelandic: -lega (is) Italian: -mente (it) Latin: -ē (la), -iter (la) Latvian: -i (lv) Lithuanian: -i (lt) Navajo: -go Polish: -o (pl) Portuguese: -mente (pt) Spanish: -mente (es) Swedish: -t (sv), -en (sv), -ligen (sv), -vis (sv)

Usage notes

• In the English language, -ly is often omitted from adverbs (e.g. badly becomes bad). This can be considered improper grammar, and may be corrected, "I want it bad." being "I want it badly.", for example.

See also

• Category:English words suffixed with -ly

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Middle English

Etymology

Old English, see above

Suffix

-ly

1. -ly (suffix used to form adverbs)