hilly

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈhɪli/ UK /ˈhɪli/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
having many hills; abounding in slopes

The hilly countryside made for an exhausting but scenic walk.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · having many hills;... undulatingrolling mountainous steep uneven rugged

Opposites

flat level plain even

Word family

Derived forms hilliness

Related forms hill hillock

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

hilly terrain
Land containing many hills and slopes.

Adjective + noun

Etymology

From hill (Old English hyll, from Proto-Germanic *hulliz) + the adjectival suffix -y.

hyll Old English *hulliz Proto-Germanic *kelH- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# hilly

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈhɪli/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈhɪli/

## Meanings
1. having many hills; abounding in slopes

## Examples
- The hilly countryside made for an exhausting but scenic walk.

## Synonyms
- undulating
- rolling
- mountainous
- steep
- uneven
- rugged

## Antonyms
- flat
- level
- plain
- even

## Derived Forms
- hilliness

## Related Forms
- hill
- hillock

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: hyll
- Root: *hulliz
- Root: *kelH-

## Etymology
From hill (Old English hyll, from Proto-Germanic *hulliz) + the adjectival suffix -y.

## AI Etymology
hilly comes from hill (Old English hyll, from Proto-Germanic *hulliz) + the adjectival suffix -y. Morphologically, the ending is part of the etymology: the suffix is attached to the older base named in the history, producing a later English derivative. In present English, the adjective sense is "having many hills; abounding in slopes", so the historical development ends in a clearly identifiable modern dictionary use. The same base also appears in related forms such as hill and hillock, and in derivatives such as hilliness. Its semantic neighborhood includes undulating, rolling, mountainous, and steep, which helps locate the modern sense without adding a separate etymological claim. The named historical forms include Old English hyll, Proto-Germanic *hulliz, and Proto-Indo-European *kelH-.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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