Quickly
adverbAt a fast pace or within a short space of time.
How to spell quickly
7 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce quickly
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does quickly mean?
- adverbAt a fast pace or within a short space of time.
Quickly in a sentence
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The technician fixed the printer quickly before the meeting started.
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Prices can rise quickly when supply runs low.
Where does quickly come from?
Language of origin: Germanic
The word descends from the Old English adverb cwiclice, formed from the adjective cwic and the adverbial ending -lice. The root cwic originally did not mean 'fast' at all; it meant 'alive' or 'living', which is why the older phrase 'the quick and the dead' contrasts the living with the dead. Over time the sense of being lively and full of life shifted toward being brisk and rapid, so that by the late medieval period 'quickly' chiefly meant 'in a short space of time'. The -ly suffix is the ordinary English adverb maker, itself a worn-down form of the same element seen in 'like', meaning 'having the manner of'. Because the spelling simply stacks 'quick' and 'ly' with no doubled or dropped letters, it is one of the more reliable adverbs to write.
How the word is built
- quick (rapid, lively)
- -ly (adverb-forming suffix)
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