gingerly

Meanings

1. 1
   adv

   with great care or caution, especially to avoid pain, damage, or danger

   She lifted the cracked vase gingerly from the shelf.

2. 2
   adj

   marked by very careful, cautious, or delicate movement

   He took a few gingerly steps across the icy pavement.

Recorded from the early sixteenth century. The -ly element is clear, but the first part is uncertain: it may reflect Anglo-Norman gencur or Old French gencor, forms related to gent ('graceful, pleasant, courteous'). A centuries-long gap in the evidence makes that derivation uncertain. The adjective developed from the adverb.

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