Etymograph

English

greatly

Greatly comes from Middle English grete ‘great, massive, amazing’, from Old English grēat ‘big’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrewd- ‘to rub, grind, remove’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰrewd-1‘to rub, grind, remove’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*grautaz2‘coarse, crude’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*graut2reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150grēat2‘big’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500grete3‘great, massive, amazing’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gretly4
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1712greatly4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *grautaz
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Middle English grete
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Middle English gretly
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English greatly
  5. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1712, Joseph Addison, Cato: “His Suff’rings ſhine, and ſpread a Glory round him;…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰrewd-Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *grautaz‘to rub, grind, remove’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*grautazWiktionary, Middle English grete‘coarse, crude’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*grautWiktionary, Middle English gretereconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150grēatWiktionary, Middle English grete‘big’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500greteWiktionary, Middle English gretly‘great, massive, amazing’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gretlyWiktionary, English greatly
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1712greatlyWiktionary, English greatly. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1712, Joseph Addison, Cato: “His Suff’rings ſhine, and ſpread a Glory round him;…”

Linked words

through Proto-West Germanic *graut

groat, 5 more

through Middle English grete ‘great, massive, amazing’

greet, grit, gert, 2 more

Today it means

adv To a great extent or degree.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “greatly”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Germanic *grautaz, Middle English grete, Middle English gretly. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *gʰrewd- / greatly

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