Link Centre Dictionary

comely

co·mely

US/ˈkʌmli/ rare archaic literary obsolete rare

adjective

1.

according with custom or propriety

  • “her becoming modesty”
  • “comely behavior”
  • “it is not comme il faut for a gentleman to be constantly asking for money”
  • “a decent burial”
  • “seemly behavior”
Synonyms
Similar
2.

very pleasing to the eye

  • “my bonny lass”
  • “there”
  • “;”
  • “;”
Synonyms
Similar

Origin

The adjective is derived from Middle English comly, comli, cumly, cumlich (“of a person: beautiful, handsome, etc.; of noble birth, bearing, or character; of behaviour: appropriate, becoming; of an event: convenient; favourable; of a thing: beautiful, wonderful; fitting, proper”), from Old English cymlīċ, cȳmlīċ (“beautiful, comely; splendid; convenient”), from cȳme (“beautiful, comely; splendid; exquisite, fine”) + -līċ (suffix meaning ‘like; relating to’ forming adjectives). Cȳme is derived from Proto-Germanic *kūmiz (“delicate; feeble”), from *kūmalīkaz (“dear; pitiful”), probably related to *kūmaz, *kūmijaz (“pitiful; frail, weak”), from Proto-Indo-European *gewH- (“to call, name; to call on, invoke; to cry, cry out”). The word was influenced by come (verb). The verb is derived from the adjective. Cognates Middle Dutch komelick, komlick Middle High German gomelīh, komelīh

Phrases

  • comely maidens

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.