Locally

How to spell locally

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce locally

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does locally mean?

1. adverbIn or relating to a particular area or neighbourhood, rather than somewhere distant.

Locally in a sentence

• The vegetables sold at the market are grown locally.

• The company sources its timber locally to cut transport costs.

Where does locally come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin noun locus, which simply meant 'a place' or 'a spot', and remains familiar in modern English phrases like in situ and in loco parentis. From locus came the medieval Latin adjective localis, meaning 'belonging to a particular place', which passed into English through Old French as 'local' during the late 1300s. The adverb 'locally' was then formed inside English by adding the native ending -ly, which itself descends from an Old English word meaning 'like' or 'having the quality of'. The same locus root underlies a whole family of everyday words including location, locate, and even locomotive. The spelling trap is the seam where the parts meet: the adjective 'local' keeps its final l and then takes -ly, giving the doubled ll of locally rather than a single l.

How the word is built

• loc- (from Latin locus: place)
• -al (adjective suffix)
• -ly (adverb suffix)