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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

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English

early

/ˈɜːli/
At a time in advance of the usual or expected event.

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    Origin

    Etymology 1

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

    Etymology 2

    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).

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • inheritedMiddle Englisherly
      • inheritedOld Englishǣrlīċ “early”
      • inheritedOld Englishǣrlīċe
        • partOld Englishǣr
          • inheritedProto-Germanic*airiz “before, earlier”
            • derivedProto-Germanic*airi “early”
              • inheritedProto-Indo-European*h₂éyeri “day, morning”
        • partOld English-līċe
          • inheritedProto-West Germanic*-līkē
            • inheritedProto-Germanic*-līkê
    • surface analysisEnglishere “At an earlier time.”
    • suffixEnglish-ly “Used to form adjectives from nouns, the adjectives having the sense of "behaving like, or having a …”
      • inheritedMiddle English-ly
        • inheritedOld English-līċ

    Related: Old Norse árliga, Danish årle, Swedish arla, Norwegian årle, Faroese árla

    Meanings

    adj
    1. At a time in advance of the usual or expected event.
    2. Arriving a time before expected; sooner than on time.
    3. After but close to the start of a period of time.
    4. In the starting hours of the day.
    5. Having begun to occur; in its early stages.
    6. Of a star or class of stars, hotter than the sun.
    noun
    1. A shift (scheduled work period) that takes place early in the day.
    adv
    1. At a time before expected; sooner than usual.
    2. Soon; in good time; seasonably.

    Sources

    • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
    • Wiktionary: early