Belike

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. Probably or perhaps; likely to happen or be true
2. It is likely or probable that something may occur or be the case
3. There is a strong possibility or assumption regarding an event or situation

Etymology: Once, "belike" meant "to pretend." Its Middle English ancestor, "beliken," meant to simulate or feign, and it was built from the prefix "be-" plus "like," the same "like" that means "similar" or "resembling." To make something be like something else was to fake it, and the sense of pretending gradually loosened into a sense of seeming or appearing, and then into the modern meaning of probability. The word's parts are plain enough. The prefix "be-" here carries the old sense of "make" or "cause to be," as in "befriend" or "becalm," so "beliken" was roughly "to make alike." Over the centuries, the verb dropped out of use while the adverb survived, and "belike" settled into its current role as a fairly formal, somewhat old-fashioned way of saying "probably" or "very likely." Its tone today tends to be literary or archaic, which is part of why it can feel more like a relic than a working word.

Synonyms: probably, likely