Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- suffix Like; resembling; having the characteristics of: sisterly.
- suffix Recurring at a specified interval of time: hourly.
- suffix In a specified manner; in the manner of: gradually.
- suffix At a specified interval of time: weekly.
- suffix With respect to: partly.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- suffix Used to form adjectives from nouns, the adjectives having the sense of "like or characteristic of what is denoted by the noun".
- suffix Used to form adverbs from adjectives.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- suffix A suffix forming adjectives and adverbs, and denoting likeness or resemblance.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- An obsolete form of lie .
- A common adjective suffix, forming, from nouns, adjectives signifying ‘of the form or nature of’ or ‘like’ the thing denoted by the noun: as in manly, womanly, godly, lordly, princely, of the nature of, like, or suited to a man, woman, etc.; bodily, earthly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, etc., belonging to or being of the body, the earth, a day, etc.; lovely, heartly (obs.), etc.
- A common adverbial suffix, forming from adjectives adverbs signifying ‘in a manner’ denoted by the adjective: as, quickly, slowly, coldly, hotly, etc., loudly, harshly, etc.
Etymologies
Middle English -li, from Old English -līc (influenced by Old Norse -ligr); see līk- in Indo-European roots.
Middle English -li, from Old English -līce (influenced by Old Norse -liga), from -līc, adj. suff.; see līk- in Indo-European roots.
(American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)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-). (Wiktionary)
From Old English -līċe. (Wiktionary)
Examples
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The principle of using a hyphen to avoid confusion explains why no hyphen is required with very and with -ly adverbs.
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If you never ponder how language works, you come to view an adverb as a word that ends in “-ly.”
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On the stump and in press conferences, the former speaker of the House has a penchant for seasoning his speech with words that end in -ly.
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FLATOW: So you get them to think differently that way, and he didn't use the "-ly" on his version of - to have sort of battles in the company to get the most creative ideas out.
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Don’t use a hyphen between adverbs ending in -ly and the words they modify: a rapidly rising rate.
Comments
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