еле

See also: эле, әле, and Appendix:Variations of "ele"

Russian

Etymology

From Old East Slavic ѥлѣ (jelě), ѥль (jelĭ), from Proto-Slavic *le, *lě (see *ale). Cognate with Ukrainian єле (jele), dialectal ле (le), Old Church Slavonic ѥлѣ живъ (jelě živŭ) (translates Ancient Greek ἡμιθανής (hēmithanḗs)), Old Church Slavonic лѣ (lě), Serbo-Croatian ле, ље̏ (“negative intensifier”), Bulgarian еле (ele, “finally”), dated Slovene lė́ (“only, just”), Czech le (“and, but, however”), Old Polish le (“only”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈjelʲe]

• Audio:

  (file)

Adverb

е́ле • (jéle)

1. hardly, scarcely, barely
2. slightly
3. with (great) difficulty

Synonyms

• с трудо́м (s trudóm), наси́лу (nasílu), едва́ (jedvá), чуть (čutʹ)

Derived terms

• е́ле-е́ле (jéle-jéle)