English

only

/ˈoʊn.li/
Alone in a category.

    Etymology graph

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    Origin

    From Middle English oonly, only, from Old English ānlīċ, ǣnlīċ (“only; singular; solitary”), from Proto-Germanic *ainalīkaz. Cognate with obsolete Dutch eenlijk, German ähnlich (“similar”), Old Norse álíkr, Swedish enlig (“unified”). By surface analysis, on(e) + -ly.

    * Regarding the different phonological development of only and one, see the note in one.

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • inheritedMiddle Englishoonly
      • inheritedOld Englishānlīċ
        • inheritedProto-Germanic*ainalīkaz

    Related: Dutch eenlijk, German ähnlich, Old Norse álíkr, Swedish enlig

    Words built on it: read-only

    Sources