Etymology

basically

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Today it means: In a fundamental, essential or basic manner. Full definition →

Proto-Germanic *līką ← Proto-Indo-European *leyg- ← English basic
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*gʷem-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*gʷémtis
  3. Proto-Hellenic*gʷə́tis
  4. Ancient Greekβᾰ́σῐς (bắsĭs)
  5. Latinbasis
  6. Old Frenchbase
  7. Middle Englishbase
  8. Englishbase
  9. Englishbasic
  10. Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
  11. Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
  12. Proto-Indo-European*leyg-
  13. Proto-Germanic*līką
  14. English todaybasically

From basic + -ally.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.