Patiently

How to spell patiently

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce patiently

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does patiently mean?

1. adverbIn a calm and uncomplaining way while waiting or enduring something.

Patiently in a sentence

• The customers waited patiently in the long queue outside the bank.

• She explained the new software patiently to each member of staff.

Where does patiently come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This adverb traces back to the Latin verb pati, which literally meant 'to suffer' or 'to endure'. Its present participle was patiens, describing someone who bears hardship or waiting without complaint, and that form passed into Old French as 'pacient' before reaching English in the 1300s. The adjective 'patient' was then extended with the common English adverb ending -ly to give 'patiently', meaning in a calm, enduring way. The original sense of suffering still survives in the medical noun 'patient', a person who endures illness, and in the word 'passion', which shares the same root and once meant suffering, as in the Passion of Christ. The spelling trap lies in the middle: the -ti- is pronounced like 'sh', so writers must remember the 't' even though the ear hears no 't' sound.

How the word is built

• pati- (from Latin pati: to suffer, endure)
• -ent (adjective suffix)
• -ly (adverb suffix)