Lawfully

How to spell lawfully

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce lawfully

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does lawfully mean?

1. adverbIn a manner that is permitted by or conforms to the law.

Lawfully in a sentence

• The tenant had lawfully occupied the flat for over a decade.

• The goods were lawfully imported and cleared through customs.

Where does lawfully come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word builds on 'law', which English inherited from the Old English 'lagu', a term for something laid down or fixed, and that noun itself was borrowed from Old Norse 'lög', the plural of 'lag' meaning 'something laid down' or 'an established order'. The image behind it is literally of rules that have been 'laid' in place, a sense connected to the verb 'to lay'. From 'law' came the adjective 'lawful', recorded from around the year 1300, meaning 'in accordance with the law' or 'permitted by law'. Adding the adverb suffix '-ly' produced 'lawfully', describing actions carried out within the bounds of the law. The spelling trap lives at the join: 'lawful' ends in a single 'l', but the adverb keeps that 'l' and adds the '-ly', so the middle correctly reads as a double 'l' in 'lawfully'.

How the word is built

• law (rule, statute)
• -ful (full of, characterised by)
• -ly (adverb suffix)