Wordwyrt

friendly

/ˈfɹendli/FREND-lee
/ˈfɹɛndli/FREND-lee

Meaninglike a friend

Common meaning: kind and pleasant

Journey through time

  1. Proto-Indo-European*pri-‘love’source
  2. Old Englishfrēond‘friend’source
  3. Middle Englishfreondsource
  4. Middle Englishfrendsource
  5. Englishfriend‘a person you know well and like’
  6. Englishformed in English from friendfriendly‘kind and pleasant’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Formed in English from friend + -ly.

Dictionary: Skeat (1898), FRISK, p.220 · scan

Source words

  • frēond Old English · source word “loving”

Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app