Where does “metaphorically” come from?
Metaphorically derives from Middle English -ly added to metaphor, with the adverbial suffix tracing to Old English -līċ, Proto-Germanic -līkaz, and ultimately Proto-Indo-European roots meaning "like" and "together."
metaphorically (English): In a metaphoric manner; not literally; by means...
Definitions
- In a metaphoric manner; not literally; by means...
Ancestry of “metaphorically”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | metaphorical | Pertaining to or characterized by a metaphor;... |
| 2 | English | metaphoric | Like a metaphor |
| 3 | English | -ic | Used to form adjectives from nouns with the... |
| 4 | English | image | An optical or other representation of a real... |
| 5 | French | image | picture, image; frame; first-person singular... |
| 6 | Portuguese | imagem | image; picture; figure; image; image; face |
| 7 | Spanish | imagen | image |
| 8 | Italian | immagine | image; imago |
| 9 | Latin | imāginem | — |
| 10 | Latin | im- | Alternative form of in-; form of "in"; in |
| 11 | Latin | īn- | — |
| 12 | Latin | în | — |
| 13 | Latin | en | lookǃ beholdǃ; reallyǃ?; come onǃ |
| 14 | Proto-Italic | en | in |
| 15 | Proto-Indo-European | h₁én | in |