Link Centre Dictionary

gingerly

gin·gerly

UK/ˈdʒɪn(d)ʒəli/ US/ˈd͡ʒɪnd͡ʒɚli/ uncommon obsolete
adverb (1) adjective (1)

adverb

1.

in a gingerly manner

  • “gingerly I raised the edge of the blanket”

adjective

1.

with extreme care or delicacy

  • “they proceeded with gingerly footwork over the jagged stones”
  • “the issue was handled only in a gingerly way” W.S.White
Similar

Origin

The second element is -ly; the first element may be Anglo-Norman gençur or Old French gençor, gensor, comparative forms (also attested as positives) of gent (“beautiful, noble, pleasant, courteous”). The Oxford English Dictionary notes, however, that there is a gap of a few centuries between the last appearance of gençor, etc., and the first appearance of gingerly. The adjective is derived from the adverb, possibly because -ly is also a suffix forming adjectives.

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.