Onely

Part of speech: adverb, adjective

Definitions

1. Being the one and only example of its kind ; used to mean just or merely in an archaic spelling of a common word
2. Referring to a single individual or thing without any others ; expressing that something is limited to a particular extent or amount
3. Standing alone as the sole instance of something ; meaning nothing more than what is stated, in the older spelling of this term

Etymology: The spelling "onely" is simply an older form of "only", and it preserves the word's structure more visibly than the modern spelling does. Its ancestor in Old English was "ānlīċ" or "ǣnlīċ", meaning "single, solitary, alone", built from the same root as "one" with the suffix that gives us "-ly". The "-ly" ending is the same as in "likely" or "quickly", so the word literally says "one-like" or "of one kind". The modern sense "nothing more than" grew out of "alone" and "single". If something is the only thing of its kind, then it is nothing beyond that thing, which is how a restrictive meaning develops into a limiting one. The same root survives in German "ähnlich" ("similar"), which shows how far the family spread, though its meaning drifted in a different direction.

Synonyms: solely, merely, just

Antonyms: also, too