Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “hourly” come from?

Hourly derives from Middle English -ly added to Old English -līċ, from Latin hora meaning "time of day," traced to Proto-Indo-European kāro-.

hourly (English): Occurring every hour; Unsalaried, paid by the...

Definitions

  1. Occurring every hour; Unsalaried, paid by the...

Ancestry of “hourly”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishhourA time period of sixty minutes; one twenty-fourth...
2Middle Englishhourehour; A time, occasion, or moment; A canonical...
3Old Frenchhourehour; time; moment to do something
4Latinhōra—
5Ancient Greekὥραany defined period of time; season; climate
6Proto-Hellenic*worā—
7Proto-Indo-Europeanwēr-true
8Proto-Indo-Europeanwer-to burn; to cover, heed, notice; squirrel

Words derived from “hourly”

  • bihourly
  • nonhourly
  • subhourly
  • semihourly
  • trihourly
Every word from Proto-Indo-European wer- →