Kindly

How to spell kindly

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce kindly

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does kindly mean?

1. adverbIn a kind, gentle, or considerate manner; also used to make a request more polite.
2. adjectiveWarm-hearted, gentle, or pleasant in nature or appearance.

Kindly in a sentence

• adverb

  She spoke kindly to the nervous new recruit.

• adjective

  The old doctor had a kindly face and a calm voice.

• adverb

  Visitors are kindly asked to switch off their phones.

• adjective

  A kindly neighbour kept an eye on the house while they travelled.

Where does kindly come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word descends from Old English gecynde, meaning 'natural' or 'innate', which itself was built on the noun cynd, the source of modern 'kind' in the sense of a type or nature. The adverbial and adjectival forms took the familiar -ly ending, which began life as the Old English -lic, literally 'having the body or form of', so 'kindly' once carried the idea of 'in a natural, fitting way'. Over the medieval period the meaning narrowed from 'natural' toward the warmer modern sense of gentle, considerate, and benevolent. The same Germanic root sits behind 'kin' and 'kindred', a reminder that kindness was first felt as the feeling owed to one's own family. Because the spelling simply joins 'kind' and 'ly' without dropping or doubling any letter, it is one of the more transparent words in the family.

How the word is built

• kind (from Old English cynde: natural, well-disposed)
• -ly (adverb/adjective suffix)