Relatively

How to spell relatively

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce relatively

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does relatively mean?

1. adverbTo a moderate degree; when compared with something else.

Relatively in a sentence

• The new flat was relatively cheap compared with the city centre.

• The exam was relatively easy once she had finished revising.

Where does relatively come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin verb referre, meaning 'to carry back' or 'to refer', whose irregular past participle was relatus, literally 'carried back'. From this came the medieval Latin relativus, an adjective describing something that stands in connection or comparison to another thing. English took 'relative' through Old French in the late 1300s, first in grammar (a relative pronoun refers back to an earlier word) and later in the broader sense of 'considered in relation to something else'. The adverb 'relatively' was then built on top of it with the familiar English ending -ly, and by the 1600s it carried today's meaning of 'comparatively' or 'in proportion to other things'. The same lat root that means 'carried' also hides inside translate (carried across) and dilate, which is a handy reminder that the middle of the word is spelled lat, not let.

How the word is built

• re- (back, again)
• lat (from latus, past participle of ferre: to carry/bear)
• -ive (adjective suffix)
• -ly (adverb suffix)