paene

Etymology
Possibly from the same root as ; this may be, but its standard reconstruction as (or  ) creates phonetic problems for the Latin. So, the etymology is.

The original meaning was likely “lacking, missing” (> “falling short”), as preserved in the related words and.

Adverb

 * 1) almost, nearly
 * 2) (with negative) scarcely, hardly, barely (ex: paene incredibilia)
 * 1) (with negative) scarcely, hardly, barely (ex: paene incredibilia)