Etymology

metaphorically

M3E1T1A1P3H4O1R1I1C3A1L1L1Y4

Today it means: In a metaphorical manner; not literally; by means of metaphor. Full definition →

Proto-Germanic *līką ← Proto-Indo-European *leyg- ← English metaphorical
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Englishmetaphor
  2. Englishmetaphoric
  3. Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
  4. Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
  5. Englishmetaphorical
  6. Proto-Indo-European*leyg-
  7. Proto-Germanic*līką
  8. English todaymetaphorically

From metaphorical + -ly.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.