Where does “потихо́ньку” come from?
потихо́ньку (Russian) comes from Russian ПО, from Old East Slavic по, from Proto-Slavic po, from Proto-Indo-European h₂pó, from Proto-Indo-European h₂epo — from, off, back; off, away; off, from.
потихо́ньку (Russian): OK, so-so (in answer to the question, "как дела?" ("How are you?"), the response "потихоньку"—"OK" or "I'm getting along okay"—implies that things could be better and could be worse)
Definitions
- OK, so-so (in answer to the question, "как дела?" ("How are you?"), the response "потихоньку"—"OK" or "I'm getting along okay"—implies that things could be better and could be worse)
Ancestry of “потихо́ньку”, step by step
потихо́ньку traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.