Quietly
adverbIn a way that makes little or no noise, or without drawing attention.
How to spell quietly
7 letters · 3 syllables
How to pronounce quietly
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does quietly mean?
- adverbIn a way that makes little or no noise, or without drawing attention.
Quietly in a sentence
-
She closed the door quietly so the baby would not wake.
-
He quietly resigned without telling his colleagues why.
Where does quietly come from?
Language of origin: Latin
The word descends from the Latin quietus, meaning 'at rest', 'calm', or 'peaceful', which itself came from quies, the noun for 'rest' or 'repose'. English took the adjective 'quiet' through Old French 'quiet' during the 1300s, and the same Latin root also gave us 'quit', 'acquit', and the financial term 'quietus', all carrying the idea of release or settling into rest. The adverb 'quietly' was formed inside English by attaching the native suffix -ly to the adjective, a regular pattern that turns a description into a manner. The spelling preserves the full 'quiet' before the suffix, so the trap is keeping the 'e' visible (quiet + ly) rather than collapsing it. The 'qu' opening is also pure Latin inheritance, since Latin used qu where modern English might expect a simple 'kw' sound.
How the word is built
- quiet (still, making little noise)
- -ly (adverb suffix)
Fix your spelling for good.
Spelling Garden finds the words you personally get wrong, plants them in a garden, and brings each one back just before you would have forgotten it.
Just five minutes a day is all it takes to fix your spelling.