Timely

How to spell timely

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce timely

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does timely mean?

1. adjectiveHappening or done at exactly the right or most useful moment.

Timely in a sentence

• The timely arrival of the ambulance saved his life.

• A timely reminder helped me pay the invoice before the deadline.

Where does timely come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a native English word, formed from the Old English noun 'tima', meaning a stretch or point of time, joined to the suffix '-lic', which produced adjectives and which has come down to modern English as '-ly'. The Germanic root behind 'tima' is linked to ideas of a fixed or appointed moment, and it is a cousin of the word 'tide' in its old sense of a season or appointed period, as preserved in 'Yuletide' and 'eventide'. For centuries 'timely' meant simply 'early' or 'occurring at the proper hour', and it still carries that flavour of arriving at exactly the right moment rather than too late. The spelling trap is small but real: although many words drop a silent 'e' before a suffix, 'time' keeps its 'e' here because '-ly' begins with a consonant, giving 'timely' and not 'timly'.

How the word is built

• time (a point or period of duration)
• -ly (adjective/adverb suffix)