Meaning

adjective at or near the beginning of a period of time or course of events or before the usual or expected time

adjective being or occurring at an early stage of development

adjective belonging to the distant past

originEtymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ey- Proto-Indo-European *-eri Proto-Indo-European *h₂éyeri Proto-Germanic *airi Proto-Germanic *airiz Old English ǣr Proto-Indo-European *leyg-der. Proto-Germanic *līkąder. Proto-Germanic *-līkaz Proto-Germanic *-ê Proto-Germanic *-līkê Proto-West Germanic *-līkē Old English -līċe Old English ǣrlīċe Middle English erly English early From Middle English erly,…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0