Delicately

How to spell delicately

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce delicately

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does delicately mean?

1. adverbIn a careful, gentle, or finely judged way; with sensitivity or fragility.

Delicately in a sentence

• The surgeon worked delicately to avoid damaging the nerve.

• She delicately raised the question of his unpaid invoice over coffee.

Where does delicately come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This adverb descends from the Latin adjective delicatus, which meant 'giving pleasure, dainty, or finely made', and which was linked to the noun deliciae, meaning 'delight' or 'luxury'. The adjective 'delicate' entered English in the late 1300s through Old French, at first carrying ideas of pleasure, softness, and fragility before settling into the modern senses of fine, easily damaged, or requiring careful handling. The adverb 'delicately' was formed in English simply by adding the regular -ly ending to 'delicate'. A useful spelling reminder is that 'delicate' shares its root with 'delicious' and 'delight', all tracing back to that Latin idea of pleasure and refinement. The trap in writing it is the soft, unstressed middle: the schwa vowels in 'del-i-CATE-ly' tempt writers toward 'delicatly' or 'delecately', so it helps to anchor on the base word delicate.

How the word is built

• delicat- (from Latin delicatus: dainty, fine)
• -ate (adjective stem)
• -ly (adverb suffix)