English
sparely
From spare + -ly.
A compound of spare + -ly
Proto-Indo-European *speh₁- ‘to succeed, to prosper’
Proto-Indo-European *sph₁rós ‘thriving’
Proto-Germanic *sparaz ‘sparing, frugal’
Old English spær ‘sparing, scant’
Middle English spare
English spare
Today it means
adv In a spare manner; sparsely or frugally.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “sparely”. 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 / sparely