Sadly

How to spell sadly

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce sadly

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does sadly mean?

1. adverbIn a way that shows or causes unhappiness, or as an unfortunate fact.

Sadly in a sentence

• Sadly, the concert was cancelled at the last minute.

• She shook her head sadly when the offer fell through.

Where does sadly come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word joins the adjective 'sad' to the adverb-forming suffix '-ly', which traces back to the Old English '-lice', itself derived from 'lic' meaning 'body' or 'form', so an adverb in '-ly' originally described doing something in a particular form or manner. The base word 'sad' comes from the Old English 'sæd', which surprisingly first meant 'sated', 'full', or 'weary', as in having had enough of something. Over the medieval period the sense drifted from 'weary and heavy' toward 'serious and grave', and finally to the modern 'unhappy' by the later Middle Ages. The connection to fullness survives in the related word 'satisfy' and in 'sated', which share the same ancient root for being filled. Because 'sad' is a short native English word and the suffix simply attaches without altering the root, the spelling is wholly regular: keep the single 'd' and add '-ly'.

How the word is built

• sad (Old English sæd)
• -ly (adverb-forming suffix)