Etymology

early

ear·ly
E1A1R1L1Y4

Today it means: At a time in advance of the usual or expected event. Full definition →

Middle English erly ← Old English ǣrlīċ
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early · adjective, noun1

  1. Old English · inherited fromǣrlīċ“early”
  2. Middle English · inherited fromerly
  3. English todayearly

From Middle English erly, erlich, earlich, from Old English ǣrlīċ (“early”, adjective), equivalent to ere + -ly.

early · adverb2

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂ey-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₂éyeri
  3. Proto-Germanic*airi
  4. Proto-Germanic*airiz
  5. Old Englishǣr
  6. Proto-Indo-European*leyg-
  7. Proto-Germanic*līką
  8. Old Englishǣrlīċe
  9. Middle Englisherly
  10. English todayearly

From Middle English erly, orely, arely, erliche, arliche, from Old English ǣrlīċe, ārlīċe (“early; early in the morning”, adverb), equivalent to ere + -ly. Cognate with Old Norse árliga, árla ( > Danish årle, Swedish arla, Norwegian årle, Faroese árla).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.