early
pronunciation
How to pronounce early in British English:
UK [ˈɜːli]
How to pronounce early in American English:
US [ˈɜːrli]
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- Adjective:
- at or near the beginning of a period of time or course of events or before the usual or expected time
- being or occurring at an early stage of development
- of the distant past
- very young
- of an early stage in the development of a language or literature
- expected in the near future
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- Adverb:
- during an early stage
- before the usual time or the time expected
- in good time
Word Origin
- early
- early: [OE] Broken down into its equivalent parts in modern English, early means ‘before-ly’. It was a compound formed from Old English ǣr (ancestor of modern English ere ‘before’) and the adverb ending -ly, modelled probably on the parallel Old Norse form árligr. Ere itself was actually originally a comparative form, which before it was used for ‘before’ meant ‘earlier’.Old English ǣr came from prehistoric Germanic *airiz, the comparative form of *air ‘early’. Related forms in other Indo-European languages, such as Greek eri ‘in the morning’ and Avestan (the sacred form of Old Iranian) ayarə ‘day’, suggest that its underlying meaning is ‘early in the morning’.=> ere
- early (adv.)
- Old English ærlice "early," from ær "soon, ere" (see ere) + -lice, adverbial suffix (see -ly (2)). Compare Old Norse arliga "early." The adjective is Old English ærlic. The early bird of the proverb is from 1670s. Related: Earlier; earliest.
Antonym
Example
- 1. These early encounters are wonderfully funny .
- 2. Is it too early to think about college ?
- 3. Some aspects of early estimates exaggerated doha 's potential .
- 4. Early retirement also seemed kinder than mass lay-offs .
- 5. The early adopters and trend setters are moving away .