Etymology

workly

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Today it means: Of, pertaining to, or performing some action or work; performative. Full definition →

Middle English *workly ← Old English *weorclīċ
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The story

  1. Old English · inherited from*weorclīċ“suitable for work”
  2. Middle English · inherited from*workly
  3. English todayworkly

From Middle English *workly, *werklich, from Old English *weorclīċ (“suitable for work”) (attested in unweorclīċ), equivalent to work + -ly. Compare Scots warkly (“diligent, industrious”), West Frisian werklik (“real, actual”), Dutch werkelijk (“real, actual, factual, effective”), German wirklich (“real, actual, true, substantial”), Hunsrik werklich, Swedish verklig (“real, actual, true”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.