Steadily

How to spell steadily

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce steadily

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does steadily mean?

1. adverbIn a regular, continuous, and unwavering manner.

Steadily in a sentence

• House prices rose steadily throughout the year.

• She worked steadily through the backlog of emails until her inbox was empty.

Where does steadily come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word traces back to the Old English noun stede, meaning a place, position, or fixed standing point, which is the same root that survives in 'instead' and in place names ending in -stead. From stede came the adjective 'steady', describing something firmly fixed in its place and therefore not wobbling or changing. The Germanic family it belongs to also gave English the word 'stead' itself, as in to 'stand someone in good stead'. The adverb 'steadily' was formed by adding the suffix -ly to 'steady', and following the regular English rule the final y of the adjective shifts to i before the ending, which is the small spelling step writers most often need to watch. The sense moved naturally from 'fixed in place' to 'in a regular, unwavering manner', which is how it is used today.

How the word is built

• stead (Old English stede: place, position)
• -y (adjective suffix)
• -ly (adverb suffix, with y changing to i)