Differently

How to spell differently

11 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce differently

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does differently mean?

1. adverbIn a way that is not the same; in another or contrasting manner.

Differently in a sentence

• The two managers handle complaints quite differently.

• After the training, she approached the same task differently.

Where does differently come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb differre, which literally meant 'to carry apart' or 'to scatter', built from dis- 'apart' and ferre 'to carry or bear'. From the same source came differens, the present participle meaning 'differing' or 'standing apart', which gave rise to the adjective 'different' in Old French as different. English took the adjective over in the late fourteenth century, and the adverb was formed in the usual native way by adding the suffix -ly. The ferre root is remarkably productive in English, surfacing in 'transfer', 'refer', and 'confer', all of which share the underlying idea of carrying. The spelling trap lies in the unstressed middle: the -ent- is barely sounded, so writers must remember it is differ + ent + ly, not 'differantly' or 'diffrently'.

How the word is built

• differ (from Latin differre: to carry apart)
• -ent (adjective suffix)
• -ly (adverb suffix)