Wisely

How to spell wisely

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce wisely

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does wisely mean?

1. adverbIn a sensible, prudent, or well judged manner.

Wisely in a sentence

• She invested her savings wisely across several funds.

• He chose his words wisely during the difficult meeting.

Where does wisely come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This adverb is built from the adjective 'wise', which descends from the Old English 'wis', meaning 'knowing', 'learned', or 'discerning'. That word had close cousins right across the Germanic family, including the Old High German 'wis' and the Gothic 'weis', and ultimately traces back to a root meaning 'to see' or 'to know', the same ancient source that gave us 'vision' and the Latin 'videre' (to see). The everyday suffix '-ly' comes from the Old English '-lice', which originally meant something like 'in the manner of', so 'wisely' literally means 'in a knowing or discerning manner'. The word has carried roughly its modern sense, acting prudently or sensibly, since the earliest Middle English period. For spelling, the trap is simply that 'wise' keeps its silent 'e' before '-ly', giving the smooth 'wise-ly' rather than any dropped vowel.

How the word is built

• wise (from Old English wis: knowing, discerning)
• -ly (adverb suffix)