Electronically

How to spell electronically

14 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce electronically

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does electronically mean?

1. adverbBy means of electronic devices or systems, especially computers or digital communication.

Electronically in a sentence

• The tax return can be filed electronically through the official website.

• Boarding passes are now stored electronically on most travellers' phones.

Where does electronically come from?

Language of origin: Greek

The word traces back to the Greek elektron, which literally meant 'amber', the fossilised tree resin that the ancient Greeks noticed could attract light objects after being rubbed. In the early 1600s the English scientist William Gilbert coined the Latin term electricus to describe this amber-like attracting force, and from it grew 'electric' and 'electricity'. By the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as physicists studied the tiny charged particle, the word 'electron' was minted, and 'electronic' followed to describe devices and systems based on the controlled flow of those particles. The adverb 'electronically' is simply 'electronic' with the adjective ending -al and the adverb ending -ly stacked on top, which is exactly where the spelling trap lives: the word ends in -ically (two l's worth of letters in -al + -ly), not the single -icly that the spoken rhythm seems to suggest. Remembering that 'electronical' lurks invisibly inside the adverb helps fix that -ically ending.

How the word is built

• electr- (from Greek elektron, amber)
• -on
• -ic (adjective)
• -al (adjective)
• -ly (adverb)