## Examples
- The snake's bite can be deadly without quick treatment.
- The striker has a deadly aim in front of goal.
- The two families had been deadly enemies for years.

## Derived Forms
- deadlihood
- deadlily
- deadliness
- fail-deadly
- nondeadly
- undeadly

## Related Forms
- dead

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: dedly
- Root: dēadlīċ
- Root: *dauþalīk
- Root: *dauþalīkaz
- Root: dedliche
- Root: dēadlīċe

## Etymology
From Middle English dedly, dedlych, dedlich, from Old English dēadlīċ (adjective), from Proto-West Germanic *dauþalīk, from Proto-Germanic *dauþalīkaz (“deadly”, literally “deathly”). By surface analysis, dead + -ly. Cognate with Saterland Frisian dodelk (“deadly”), West Frisian deadlik (“deadly”), Dutch dodelijk (“deadly”), German tödlich (“deadly”), Swedish dödlig (“deadly, fatal, mortal”), Icelandic dauðlegur (“mortal”). The adverb is from Middle English dedliche, from Old English dēadlīċe (adverb), from the adjective.

## AI Etymology
deadly comes from Middle English dedly, dedlych, dedlich, from Old English dēadlīċ (adjective), from Proto-West Germanic *dauþalīk, from Proto-Germanic *dauþalīkaz (“deadly”, literally “deathly”). By surface analysis, dead + -ly. Cognate with Saterland Frisian dodelk (“deadly”), West Frisian deadlik (“deadly”), Dutch dodelijk (“deadly”), German tödlich (“deadly”), Swedish dödlig (“deadly, fatal, mortal”), Icelandic dauðlegur (“mortal”). The adverb is from Middle English dedliche, from Old English dēadlīċe (adverb), from the adjective. Current senses include Able to cause death and Extremely accurate and effective. English relatives and later formations include deadlihood, deadlily, deadliness, dead.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

markdown

deadly

Meanings

Thesaurus

Common collocations

Etymology

Topics

External links

Keyboard Shortcuts

General

Send feedback