Wordwyrt

necessarily

/ˌnesəˈseɹəli/neh-suh-SEH-ruh-lee
/ˌnɛsəˈsɛɹəli/neh-suh-SEH-ruh-lee

Meaningin a needed way

Common meaning: as must be

Other meanings: inevitably

Journey through time

  1. Proto-Indo-European*nak-‘reach, attain’source
  2. Latinnecessarius‘needful’source
  3. Middle Englishnecessariesource
  4. Englishnecessary‘needed’
  5. Englishformed in English from necessarynecessarily‘as must be’ · 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 necessary + -ly.

Dictionary: Skeat (1898), NECESSARY, p.389 · scan

Source words

Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app