Originally

How to spell originally

10 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce originally

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does originally mean?

1. adverbAt first, or in the beginning, before any later change.

Originally in a sentence

• The house was originally painted a deep green before the new owners changed it.

• She originally trained as an accountant and only later moved into teaching.

Where does originally come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin noun origo, with its stem origin-, meaning 'a beginning, a source, or a starting point', which was itself formed from the verb oriri, 'to rise' or 'to come into being' (the same root that gives us 'orient' and the rising sun). In Latin the adjective originalis described something belonging to or present from the very start. English borrowed 'original' through Old French in the medieval period, often in religious contexts such as 'original sin'. The adverb 'originally' was then built in English by adding the familiar -ly ending to 'original', producing the sense 'at first' or 'in the beginning'. The spelling trap lives in the unstressed middle, where the second 'i' and the doubled 'l' of -ally are both easy to drop or smooth over in writing.

How the word is built

• origin (from Latin origo: a beginning, source)
• -al (adjective)
• -ly (adverb)