Etymology

churchly

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Today it means: Pertaining to or relating to the church, its government, forms, or ceremonies; ecclesiastical. Full definition →

Middle English *chirchely ← Old English ċiriclīċ
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The story

  1. Old English · inherited fromċiriclīċ“ecclesiastical”
  2. Middle English · inherited from*chirchely
  3. English todaychurchly

From Middle English *chirchely, *chirchelich, from Old English ċiriclīċ (“ecclesiastical”), equivalent to church + -ly. Cognate with Scots kirkly (“ecclesiastical”), Dutch kerkelijk (“ecclesiastic, ecclesiastical”), German kirchlich (“ecclesiastical, religious, ecclesiastic”), Swedish kyrklig (“ecclesiastical”). Compare also churchlike.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.