Scratchily

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. Marked by a sound that is both grating and unpolished
2. Having the quality of being harshly audible and uncomfortable to listen to
3. In a way that produces a rough, uneven, and unpleasant noise

Etymology: "Scratchily" is a plain formation: the adjective "scratchy" with the adverb suffix "-ly" added. "Scratchy" itself goes back to the Old English "scratian" family of scraping verbs, and the "-y" ending on it was a common way of turning a noun or verb into an adjective meaning "characterised by" or "having the quality of." The suffix "-ly" has a longer and more interesting path. It descends from an Old English "-līċe," which was attached to adjectives to form adverbs of manner, and which itself came from a noun meaning "body" or "form," so that "scratchily" originally carried the sense of "in the form of something scratchy." Over centuries the noun sense faded and the ending became purely grammatical, which is why almost any adjective can take it today.

Synonyms: roughly, scruffily, harshly, ruggedly, coarsely

Antonyms: smoothly, gently, softly, calmly, silkenly