sprightly

C2 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈspraɪtli/ UK /ˈspɹaɪtli/ See IPA manual

Freq #50863

Meanings

1

adj
full of spirit and vitality

A sprightly young girl.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

lively fey frolicsome nimble peppy frisky vivacious

Word family

Forms sprightliersprightliest

Derived forms sprightsprightlesprightlilysprightlinessunsprightly

Related forms sprightfulsprightlesssprightnesssprightliness

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

sprightly dance
a lively, energetic dance

Adjective + noun

Simplified etymology

Sprightly developed in the late 16th century from sprite, a Middle English shortening of spirit. Its history therefore ultimately leads back to Latin spiritus, “breath” or “spirit.”

Etymology

From spright + -ly (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘behaving like, having the nature of’). Spright is an obsolete variant of sprite (“a shade, spirit; elf, fairy, goblin; apparition, ghost”), from Middle English sprit (“principle of life; soul, especially at the point of death; immaterial being (angel, demon, apparition, ghost, etc.); divine inspiration; Holy Spirit; the mind, intellect, reason; mental faculties, senses; power of prophecy; character, disposition; courage, resolution; mood, state of mind; human will; breath; (alchemy) volatile substance”) [and other forms], from Anglo...

*(s)peys- Proto-Indo-European sprit Middle English esprite xno esprit Old French espirit Old French spīritus Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# sprightly

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈspraɪtli/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈspɹaɪtli/
**Frequency rank:** 50863

## Meanings
1. full of spirit and vitality

## Examples
- A sprightly young girl.

## Synonyms
- lively
- fey
- frolicsome
- nimble
- peppy
- frisky
- vivacious

## Derived Forms
- spright
- sprightle
- sprightlily
- sprightliness
- unsprightly

## Related Forms
- sprightful
- sprightless
- sprightness
- sprightliness

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *(s)peys-
- Root: sprit
- Root: esprite
- Root: esprit
- Root: espirit
- Root: spīritus

## Etymology
From spright + -ly (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘behaving like, having the nature of’). Spright is an obsolete variant of sprite (“a shade, spirit; elf, fairy, goblin; apparition, ghost”), from Middle English sprit (“principle of life; soul, especially at the point of death; immaterial being (angel, demon, apparition, ghost, etc.); divine inspiration; Holy Spirit; the mind, intellect, reason; mental faculties, senses; power of prophecy; character, disposition; courage, resolution; mood, state of mind; human will; breath; (alchemy) volatile substance”) [and other forms], from Anglo...

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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