legitimately
/ləˈdʒɪtəmətli/luh-JIH-tuh-muht-lee
UK form converted from the US by rule · unchecked/ləˈdʒɪtəmətli/luh-JIH-tuh-muht-lee
Meaningin a legitimate way
Common meaning: lawfully, properly
Tap a word part to explore
- legita lawSkeat, Etymological Dictionary (1898), p. 328 · scan
- imadjective ending
- ateverb or adjective ending: to make, having
- lyadverb ending: in a way
Journey through time
- Latinlegitimus‘lawful’source
- Medieval Latinlegitimatus‘made lawful’source
- Englishlegitimate‘lawful’
- Englishformed in English from legitimatelegitimately‘lawfully, properly’ · 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 legitimate + -ly.
Dictionary: Skeat (1898), LEGITIMATE, p.328 · scan
Roots
- lēx, lēgis Latin “a law”
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