Wordwyrt

specially

/ˈspeʃəli/SPEH-shuh-lee
/ˈspɛʃəli/SPEH-shuh-lee

Meaningin a special way

Common meaning: for a particular purpose

Journey through time

  1. Latinspecialissource
  2. Old Frenchspecialsource
  3. Middle Englishspecialsource
  4. Englishspecial‘particular, distinctive’
  5. Englishformed in English from specialspecially‘for a particular purpose’ · 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 special + -ly.

Dictionary: Skeat (1898), SPECIAL, p.578 · scan

Source words

  • specialis Latin · source word “particular”

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