Always

How to spell always

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce always

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does always mean?

1. adverbAt all times; on every occasion or without exception.

Always in a sentence

• She is always on time.

• I always check the door is locked.

Where does always come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word grew out of Old English, where the phrase 'ealne weg' literally meant 'all the way' or 'the whole distance'. Over time the sense of physical distance broadened into a sense of duration, so 'all the way' came to mean 'at all times' or 'continuously'. By Middle English the phrase had collapsed into a single adverb, and the final -s is an old adverbial genitive ending, the same kind of -s seen in words like 'towards' and 'nowadays'. The spelling settled on a single l, 'always', rather than the doubled 'all', which is exactly the trap that catches adults who instinctively want to write 'allways'. It has nothing to do with separate weighing; the 'way' inside it really does come from the road or path that English speakers once travelled.

How the word is built

• al- (from all)
• way (course, road)
• -s (adverbial genitive ending)