Harshly

How to spell harshly

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce harshly

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does harshly mean?

1. adverbIn a severe, unkind, or unpleasantly rough manner.

Harshly in a sentence

• The manager spoke harshly to the new recruit during the review.

• Critics judged the film far too harshly for such a low budget.

Where does harshly come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word is the adverb formed from the adjective 'harsh', which entered Middle English as 'harsk' and meant something rough, sour, or unpleasant to the touch or taste. Its roots are Germanic and almost certainly Scandinavian; related forms such as the Old Norse-influenced 'harsk' and Middle Low German 'harsch' described coarse, gritty textures, and the word may ultimately trace back to a root meaning 'hair' or 'bristly', the idea being something prickly and abrasive. Over time the literal sense of physical roughness broadened into the figurative meanings English uses today: cruel, severe, or unkind in manner. The adverb was created in the ordinary English way by adding the suffix '-ly' to the adjective. Because the base word already ends in a consonant cluster, the only real spelling point to remember is that 'harsh' keeps all its letters before '-ly' is simply tacked on, giving the double 'h' run in 'harshly'.

How the word is built

• harsh (rough, severe)
• -ly (adverb suffix)