hardly

Etymology
From, , from , equivalent to. Compare 🇨🇬, 🇨🇬.

Adverb

 * 1)  Barely, only just, almost not.
 * 2) Certainly not; not at all.
 * 3)  With difficulty.
 * , Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.234:
 * And what gentle flame soever doth warme the heart of young virgins, yet are they hardly drawne to leave and forgoe their mothers, to betake them to their husbands.
 * 1)  Harshly, severely; in a hard manner.
 * 2)  Firmly, vigorously, with strength or exertion.
 * , Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.148:
 * Let him hardly be possest with an honest curiositie to search out the nature and causes of all things.
 * , Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.234:
 * And what gentle flame soever doth warme the heart of young virgins, yet are they hardly drawne to leave and forgoe their mothers, to betake them to their husbands.
 * 1)  Harshly, severely; in a hard manner.
 * 2)  Firmly, vigorously, with strength or exertion.
 * , Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.148:
 * Let him hardly be possest with an honest curiositie to search out the nature and causes of all things.
 * 1)  Firmly, vigorously, with strength or exertion.
 * , Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.148:
 * Let him hardly be possest with an honest curiositie to search out the nature and causes of all things.

Usage notes

 * In the modern sense "barely", it occurs before the verb, and is grammatically a negative word. It therefore collocates with ever rather than never.
 * Compare example sentence with I almost never watch television
 * Because of the anomalous sense of this word, expressions such as "hardly working" have an opposite meaning to what the etymology ("hard" + "-ly") would suggest. "Working hard" suggests that considerable work is being done, whereas "hardly working" suggests that very little work is being done.

Translations

 * Chinese:
 * Cantonese:
 * Hakka: 重
 * Hokkien:
 * Mandarin:
 * Czech: přísně
 * French: ,
 * German: ,
 * Icelandic: af hörku, hakalega
 * Italian:
 * Norwegian:
 * Bokmål: hardt
 * Portuguese:
 * Russian:, ,


 * Armenian: հազիվ (թե), դժվարությամբ
 * Belarusian: ледзь
 * Bulgarian:
 * Catalan: ,
 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin: 幾乎不
 * Czech: ,
 * Danish: knap
 * Dutch:
 * Esperanto:
 * Faroese: neyvan
 * Finnish:, ,
 * French: ,
 * Friulian:
 * Georgian:
 * German:
 * Greek:
 * Ancient: μόλις
 * Hebrew: בקושי
 * Hindi: थोड़े
 * Hungarian:, , ,
 * Icelandic:, naumlega, ekki meira en svo, , tæplega, með erfiði, með fyrirhöfn
 * Ido:
 * Interlingua:
 * Irish: ní móide
 * Italian:
 * Khmer: គើមៗ, ស្ទើរតែ, តើកៗ
 * Korean:
 * Kurdish:
 * Central Kurdish: ئاستەم, جارجار
 * Latin: vix,
 * Lithuanian:, vos vos
 * Macedonian: одвај, едвај
 * Maori: pitoiti, pitoiptoiti
 * Mongolian:
 * Cyrillic:
 * Norwegian:
 * Bokmål: ,
 * Occitan:
 * Ojibwe: agaawaa
 * Old English: unēaþe
 * Old French: a paine
 * Polish:
 * Portuguese: quase não,
 * Romanian:
 * Russian: ,
 * Sardinian:
 * Campidanese: appenas
 * Logudorese: accalaítzu, azìgu, izu
 * Sassarese: aìzu
 * Scottish Gaelic: air èiginn
 * Serbo-Croatian:
 * Cyrillic: је̏два
 * Roman:
 * Slovak: sotva, ledva
 * Spanish:, a duras penas
 * Swedish:, ,
 * Thai: แทบจะไม่
 * Turkish:
 * Ukrainian:, ледь
 * Vietnamese: hầu như không, vừa mới
 * Welsh: braidd,
 * Yiddish: קוים


 * Italian: ,
 * Latin:
 * Norwegian:
 * Serbo-Croatian:

Interjection

 * 1) Not really.
 * I think the Beatles are a really overrated band. &#x2015; Hardly!