Seasonally

How to spell seasonally

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce seasonally

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does seasonally mean?

1. adverbIn a way that depends on or changes with the seasons of the year.

Seasonally in a sentence

• The resort hires extra staff seasonally to cope with summer crowds.

• Vegetable prices fluctuate seasonally depending on what is being harvested.

Where does seasonally come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This adverb is built on the noun 'season', which English took from the Old French 'seson' or 'saison' during the 1200s. That French word descended from the Latin 'satio' (and its accusative form 'sationem'), which literally meant 'a sowing' or 'planting', derived from 'serere', 'to sow'. The sense shifted naturally from the act of sowing seed to the right time of year for sowing, and then to any recurring division of the year such as spring or summer. The adjective 'seasonal' was formed by adding '-al', and 'seasonally' adds the adverb ending '-ly'. The spelling trap lives at the join: the '-al' of 'seasonal' meets the '-ly' ending to produce a doubled 'l' and an unstressed '-on-al-ly' string of schwa sounds that the ear gives no help with.

How the word is built

• season (a division of the year)
• -al (adjective suffix: relating to)
• -ly (adverb suffix: in the manner of)