bashfully

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English bashful

Proto-Indo-European *leyg-der.

Proto-Germanic *līkąder.

Proto-Germanic *-līkaz

Proto-Germanic *-ê

Proto-Germanic *-līkê

Proto-West Germanic *-līkē

Old English -līċe

Middle English -ly

English -ly

English bashfully

From bashful + -ly.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adverb

bashfully (comparative more bashfully, superlative most bashfully)

1. In a bashful manner.
   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbj&oslash￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 89:

     [T]he thrush sang his mocking songs and libellous ditties about everybody, but became occasionally a little sentimental and warbled gently and bashfully some tender stanzas.

   • 1944, Emily Carr, “Bachelors”, in The House of All Sorts:

     The morning of the wedding he bounded up my stair, most tremendously shaved and brushed, stood upon my doormat bashfully hesitant.

Translations

in a bashful manner

• Czech: stydlivě
• Finnish: häveliäästi (fi)