Firstly

How to spell firstly

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce firstly

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does firstly mean?

1. adverbUsed to introduce the first item or point in a sequence or list.

Firstly in a sentence

• Firstly, we need to confirm the budget before booking the venue.

• Firstly, the committee must approve the plan, and then the work can begin.

Where does firstly come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word is built on the native Old English first, an ordinal form that traces back to a Germanic root meaning 'foremost' or 'earliest', the same root that gave us the everyday word 'first'. To make it an adverb, English added the suffix -ly, which descends from the Old English -lice and originally carried the sense of 'in the manner of'. Although first itself is ancient, the longer form firstly is comparatively recent, appearing only around the 1500s and growing common as writers wanted a neat parallel with secondly and thirdly when listing points in order. Some careful stylists once objected that 'first' alone was perfectly adequate, but firstly settled into respectable use and now reads as ordinary. The spelling is regular: keep the whole word first and simply attach -ly, so the trap is mainly remembering both letters of the cluster rather than dropping to 'firsly'.

How the word is built

• first (foremost, earliest)
• -ly (adverb suffix)