hesitatingly

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English hesitating

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 hesitatingly

From hesitating + -ly.

Adverb

hesitatingly (comparative more hesitatingly, superlative most hesitatingly)

1. In a hesitating manner.
   • 1889, Rudyard Kipling, “Only A Subaltern”, in Under the Deodars, Boston: The Greenock Press, published 1899, page 149:

     “’E’s awful bad, sir," said the voice, hesitatingly.

   • 1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, →OCLC, page 66:

     As he passed the drawing-room door he heard Ethel say hesitatingly: "I - I heard you singing from the verandah."

Translations

in a hesitating manner

• Esperanto: hezite