Factly

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. Characterized by a straightforward and factual manner of expression
2. representing information without embellishment or interpretation
3. conveying truths or realities with clarity and precision

Etymology: "Factly" is not a word on its own in standard English; it survives only as a clipped piece of "matter-of-factly," the adverb formed from the phrase "matter-of-fact" plus the suffix "-ly." Its real interest lies in that suffix, which has an unusually long ancestry. The "-ly" ending traces back through Middle English and Old English "-lice" to a Proto-Germanic form meaning something like "having the form or appearance of," the same root that gives English "like" and "-like" in words such as "godlike." The phrase "matter-of-fact" itself is a compound built from "matter" and "fact," meaning a plain, unadorned statement of what is actually the case. Adding "-ly" turned it into a description of how someone speaks or acts: sticking to plain facts without emotion or embellishment. So the adverb "matter-of-factly" describes a manner, and "factly" appears only as the shortened form that sits inside it.

Synonyms: certainly, truthfully