hardly etymology

Etymology

• Old English: heardelice
• Middle English: hardeli, hardeliche
• Old Norse: harðliga
• Proto-Germanic: hardulīkō
• Proto-Indo-European: kʷer-d-l-o-ó-i̯ ("firmly with heart")

Meaning and Origin

"Hardly" originally meant "with a strong heart or will" or "firmly." It developed its current meaning of "barely" or "scarcely" by the 14th century. This shift in meaning is thought to have arisen from the sense of "resolutely" or "firmly," which could imply that something was done with great effort, and therefore with only a small margin of success.

Examples

• I hardly slept a wink last night.
• I hardly believe you.
• It's hardly surprising that he failed.

Synonyms

• scarcely
• barely
• almost not
• nearly not
• just barely

hardly relate terms

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• like

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• careen

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• Gerard

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• hard

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• hardly

  Etymology Old English heardelice Middle English hardeli hardeliche Old Norse harðli

• hardy

  Etymology The word hardy comes from the Middle English word hardi which in turn com

• Leonard

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• Richard

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• standard

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• scarce

  Etymology The word scarce is derived from the Old French word eschars meaning stin

• scarce

  Etymology The word scarce is derived from the Old French word eschars meaning stin

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  Etymology Greek logos word speech Latin lingua tongue language Meaning Li

• tabernacle

  Etymology The word tabernacle comes from the Latin word tabernaculum which means t

• oblivion

  Etymology Latin oblivīsci to forget Ultimately from the Proto Indo European r