Etymology

gladly

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Today it means: In a glad manner; happily. Full definition →

Middle English gladly ← Old English glædlīċe ← Proto-Germanic *līką
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic*gladaz
  2. Proto-West Germanic*glad
  3. Old Englishglæd
  4. Proto-Indo-European*leyg-
  5. Proto-Germanic*līką
  6. Old Englishglædlīċe
  7. Middle Englishgladly
  8. English todaygladly

Inherited from Middle English gladly (“joyousuly, voluntarily, easily”), from Old English glædlīċe (“gladly, pleasantly, kindly”), from glæd (“glad, bright”) + -līċe. Compare Danish glædelig (“joyful”), Icelandic gleðilegur (“delightful”). More at glad, -ly.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.