Lyghtly

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. Done with little force, weight, or pressure, in a gentle manner ; in a careless way, without giving serious thought or concern to the matter
2. Touching or moving with a soft, slight pressure ; acting without much seriousness, heedlessly and without proper consideration
3. An archaic spelling of lightly, meaning with gentle, slight contact ; in a thoughtless manner, paying little heed to consequences

Etymology: "Lightly" once meant quickly and nimbly, as well as gently or with little weight. It comes from Old English "lēoht", "not heavy", the same root as "light" in the sense of weight. The ending comes from the Old English suffix "-līce", which turned adjectives into adverbs, as in "quickly" and "boldly." Early uses likely described moving with agility rather than treating something casually. "Lyghtly" is an older spelling. The "gh" marked a sound that English later lost, as in "light" and "night." Medieval and early modern writers spelled the word in several ways before the modern form became standard. The sense of treating something as unimportant, as in "to take a matter lightly," grew from the image of something weighing little in the mind.