merrily

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈmɛrɪli/ UK /ˈmɛrɪli/ See IPA manual

adv

Meanings

1

adv
in a cheerful and lively manner

They sang merrily as they walked home.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adv · in a cheerful and lively... cheerfully gaily joyfully blithely gleefully brightly jovially

Opposites

sadly gloomilymoroselydolefully

Word family

Related forms merry merrimentmerrymaking

Etymology

From merry (Old English merge, myrge 'pleasant, agreeable', from Proto-Germanic *murgijaz 'short, brief') + -ly, the adverbial suffix from Old English -līce.

myrge Old English *murgijaz Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

# merrily

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adv
**IPA (US):** ˈmɛrɪli
**IPA (UK):** ˈmɛrɪli

## Meanings
1. in a cheerful and lively manner

## Examples
- They sang merrily as they walked home.

## Synonyms
- cheerfully
- gaily
- joyfully
- blithely
- gleefully
- brightly
- jovially

## Antonyms
- sadly
- gloomily
- morosely
- dolefully

## Related Forms
- merry
- merriment
- merrymaking

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: myrge
- Root: *murgijaz

## Etymology
From merry (Old English merge, myrge 'pleasant, agreeable', from Proto-Germanic *murgijaz 'short, brief') + -ly, the adverbial suffix from Old English -līce.

## AI Etymology
Merrily comes from merry (Old English merge, myrge 'pleasant, agreeable', from Proto-Germanic *murgijaz 'short, brief') + -ly, the adverbial suffix from Old English -līce. The etymological trail includes Old English myrge and Proto-Germanic *murgijaz. As an adverb, merrily means in a cheerful and lively manner. The same family is visible in related forms such as merry, merriment, and merrymaking. Morphologically, the word is built from the elements named in its history, so the modern form preserves a visible compound, prefix, or suffix structure.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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