Intrinsically

How to spell intrinsically

13 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce intrinsically

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does intrinsically mean?

1. adverbIn a way that belongs to the essential nature of something, by itself and independent of external factors.

Intrinsically in a sentence

• The design was intrinsically flawed, so no amount of patching could save it.

• Gold is intrinsically valuable because of its scarcity, not because of any decoration.

Where does intrinsically come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This adverb is built on the adjective 'intrinsic', which traces back to the Latin word intrinsecus, meaning 'on the inside' or 'inwardly'. That Latin term was assembled from intra, meaning 'within', and secus, meaning 'alongside' or 'following', so the literal sense was something like 'following from within'. English took the word in during the 1400s through Old French intrinsèque, where it once carried the now obsolete meaning of 'internal' in an anatomical sense before settling on its modern meaning of 'belonging to the essential nature of a thing'. The adverb adds the regular '-ally' ending, and this is exactly where the spelling trap lives: the base word ends in '-ic', so the full adverb keeps both the 'c' and the 'al' of '-ically', giving the unexpected double layer 'intrinsic' plus 'ally'. Its near opposite, 'extrinsic', shares the same secus root but swaps intra for extra, meaning 'outside'.

How the word is built

• intrinsic (inherent, belonging to the nature of a thing)
• -ally (adverb suffix); intrinsic itself from Latin intrinsecus 'inwardly'