Loudly

How to spell loudly

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce loudly

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does loudly mean?

1. adverbIn a way that produces a lot of noise or a strong, easily heard sound.

Loudly in a sentence

• The neighbours were talking so loudly that I could hear every word.

• The alarm rang loudly across the whole office.

Where does loudly come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The base word 'loud' descends from Old English 'hlud', meaning 'making a strong sound', which itself goes back to a Germanic root shared with the Dutch 'luid' and German 'laut'. Remarkably, this root is connected to an even older Indo-European source meaning 'to hear', the same ancient family that gave Latin 'clarus' (clear, famous) and Greek 'kleos' (fame or renown). The adverb form 'loudly' was built in the usual English way by adding the suffix '-ly', which comes from Old English '-lice' and originally meant 'in the manner of'. The word has carried its plain sense of high-volume sound throughout its recorded history, with no major shift in meaning. Because the spelling simply joins the familiar word 'loud' to the regular '-ly' ending, it holds few surprises for a confident adult writer.

How the word is built

• loud (adjective)
• -ly (adverb suffix)