Ready
adjectiveFully prepared or in a fit state to do something immediately.
How to spell ready
5 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce ready
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does ready mean?
- adjectiveFully prepared or in a fit state to do something immediately.
Ready in a sentence
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The report will be ready for the meeting tomorrow.
-
Once the dough has risen, the loaf is ready for the oven.
Where does ready come from?
Language of origin: Germanic
The word comes from the Old English geræde, meaning 'prepared' or 'arranged', which was tied to the idea of equipment fitted out for a journey or for riding. The same Germanic root sits behind words for getting horses and gear into order, and you can still hear that sense of being 'set to go' in modern use. Over time the prefix dropped away and the spelling settled toward 'redy' and then 'ready' in Middle English. The word is a close cousin of German 'bereit' and shares ancestry with the verb to 'array', which also means to set in order. The spelling trap is the silent way the 'ea' sounds like a short 'e', so writers must remember the vowel pair even though the word rhymes with 'steady'.
How the word is built
- ræd- (Old English ræde: prepared, mounted)
- -y (adjective suffix)
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