Mutually

How to spell mutually

8 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce mutually

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does mutually mean?

1. adverbIn a way that is shared by or applies equally to two or more people or parties.

Mutually in a sentence

• The two firms agreed on terms that were mutually beneficial.

• They set a mutually convenient time for the meeting.

Where does mutually come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin adjective mutuus, which meant 'reciprocal' or 'borrowed', describing something given and received in return between two parties. That root was closely tied to mutare, the Latin verb 'to change' or 'to exchange', so the underlying idea was always one of swapping or shared dealing. English took mutual through Old French in the late 1400s, originally in legal and commercial contexts about obligations owed on both sides. The adverb mutually was then formed in English by stacking the familiar -al and -ly suffixes onto that base. The same mutare ancestor survives in everyday words such as 'mutate' and 'commute', and the spelling trap lives in the quiet middle: the -tu- before -ally is easy to slur, leaving writers unsure how many letters fill that unstressed stretch.

How the word is built

• mutu- (from Latin mutuus: reciprocal, exchanged)
• -al (adjective suffix)
• -ly (adverb suffix)