-ly

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• /li/
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• US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• UK: [liː]
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• Received-Pronunciation: [lɪ]
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• US: [li]
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• New-Zealand: [ɫiː]
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From Middle English -ly, -li, -lik, -lich, -like, from Old English -līċ, from Proto-West Germanic *-līk, from Proto-Germanic *-līkaz (“having the body or form of”), from *līką (“body”) (whence lich). In form, probably influenced by Old Norse -ligr (“-ly”) (Norwegian Bokmål -lig, Faroese -ligur, Icelandic -legur). Cognate with Dutch -lijk, German -lich, Danish -lig and Swedish -lig. Doublet of -like, more at like.

Etymology tree 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 From Middle English -ly, -li, -liche, from Old English -līċe.

147 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Chinese Mandarin: 地 (di) — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Chinese Mandarin: 的 (de) — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Danish: -lig — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Danish: -agtig — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Dutch: -achtig — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Dutch: -lijk — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Dutch: -ig — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Esperanto: -a — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Faroese: -ligur — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Finnish: -mainen — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• French: -ment — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Galician: -oso — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Galician: -mente — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Georgian: -ური (-uri) — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Georgian: -ული (-uli) — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• German: -lich — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• German: -ig — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• German: -isch — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• German: -haft — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Hungarian: -s — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Hungarian: -os — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Hungarian: -as — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Hungarian: -es — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Hungarian: -ös — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Hungarian: -i — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Hungarian: -ias — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Hungarian: -ies — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Icelandic: -legur — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Ido: -atra — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Northern Kurdish: -ane — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Middle English: -ly — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Old English: -līċ — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Persian: مآبانه (-me-âbâne) — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Polish: -owy — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Polish: -ny — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Portuguese: -oso — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Portuguese: -ento — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Portuguese: -mente — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Russian: -ский (-skij) — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Russian: -ски (-ski) — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Serbo-Croatian: -ně — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Spanish: -oso — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Swedish: -aktig — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Swedish: -artad — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Swedish: -lig — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Swedish: -isk — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Turkish: -ca — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Turkish: -ça — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Turkish: -ce — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Turkish: -çe — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Turkish: -cıl — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Turkish: -çıl — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Turkish: -cil — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Turkish: -çil — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Urdu: -ی (-ī) — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Welsh: -us — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "similar to, like, characteristic of"
• Azerbaijani: -lik — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "occurring at such intervals"
• Danish: -lig — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "occurring at such intervals"
• Dutch: -lijks — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "occurring at such intervals"
• German: -lich — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "occurring at such intervals"
• Hungarian: -i — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "occurring at such intervals"
• Northern Kurdish: -ane — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "occurring at such intervals"
• Polish: co- — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "occurring at such intervals"
• Russian: еже- (ježe-) — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "occurring at such intervals"
• Swedish: -lig — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "occurring at such intervals"
• Turkish: -lik — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "occurring at such intervals"
• Ukrainian: що- -ний (ščo- -nyj) — forming adjectives from nouns, in the sense "occurring at such intervals"
• Ainu: no — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Aragonese: -mén — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Armenian: -բար (-bar) — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Armenian: -որեն (-oren) — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Asturian: -mente — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Azerbaijani: -cə — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Basque: -eki — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Burmese: စွာ (cwa) — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Catalan: -ment — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Chinese Mandarin: 地 (de) — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Czech: -ě — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Dutch: no change in form) — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Dutch: -erwijs — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Dutch: -lijk — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Dutch: -jes — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Dutch: genoeg — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Esperanto: -e — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Estonian: -lt — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Faroese: -liga — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Finnish: -sti — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• French: -ment — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Galician: -mente — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Georgian: -ად (-ad) — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Georgian: -დ (-d) — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Georgian: -ურად (-urad) — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Georgian: -ულად (-ulad) — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• German: -erweise — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• German: -lich — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Greek: -α (-a) — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Greek: -ως (-os) — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Hebrew: ב־ (be-/bi-) — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Hungarian: -an — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Hungarian: -en — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Hungarian: -lag — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Hungarian: -leg — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Hungarian: -l — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Hungarian: -ul — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Hungarian: -ül — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Icelandic: -lega — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Ido: -e — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Igbo: na — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Italian: -mente — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Japanese: ...く (-ku) — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Japanese: ...に (-ni) — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Latin: -ē — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Latin: -iter — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Latvian: -i — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Lithuanian: -i — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Macedonian: -о (-o) — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Middle English: -ly — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Mongolian: -хан (-xan) — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Navajo: -go — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Neapolitan: -mente — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Norman: -ment — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Occitan: -ment — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Ojibwe: -a — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Old English: -e — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Old English: -līċe — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Persian: ـانه (-âne) — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Persian: ـیها (-ihâ) — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Polish: -o — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Polish: -ie — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Portuguese: -mente — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Russian: -о (-o) — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Russian: -е (-e) — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Russian: по-...-ски (po-...-ski) — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Russian: -ски (-ski) — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Spanish: -mente — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Spanish: de manera — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Spanish: a lo — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Spanish: en clave de — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Spanish: con carácter de — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Spanish: con tono de — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Swedish: -t — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Turkish: bir şekilde — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Turkish: -ce — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Turkish: -ca — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Turkish: -çe — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Turkish: -ça — used to form adverbs from adjectives
• Walloon: -mint — used to form adverbs from adjectives