already

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɔːlˈred.i/ (UK); /ɔːlˈred.i/, /ɑːlˈred.i/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It comes from the Middle English phrase al redy “fully ready, prepared”,^[2][3] formed from Middle English al (“all, fully”) + redy (“ready”),^[4][5] that is, all used as an adverb and ready.^[4][6] Compare Norwegian allerede and Danish allerede.^[7][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Fully prepared, quite ready, as an adjective (about 1300).^[2][8][7]

Semantic evolution

Random House explains the change: in a sentence like the porter all ready was there, the phrase first described the subject but was then taken as an adverb of time, “from an earlier time”.^[9] The adverb is recorded from the late 14th century,^[7][10] and the adjective sense died out in the 16th century.^[8][4] Barnhart notes that all ready continued as a separate two-word phrase, written as one word only sporadically since the 1450s; the parallel all right never became a single word.^[11] In American English, already at the end of a sentence to express impatience (enough already!) is recorded from 1903 and translates Yiddish shoyn;^[7][10][12] in South African English a similar redundant already comes from Afrikaans al.^[13][8]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – al redy, fully ready.^[2][8]
• late 14th century – adverb, by this time, previously.^[7][10]
• 1555 – last record of the adjective sense.^[8]
• 1891 – redundant already in South African English.^[13][8]
• 1903 – already as an intensive in American English.^[7][8]

Modern meaning

Adverb

1. Before the time in question; by now or by then: they were already asleep.
2. So soon, sooner than expected: is it ten o'clock already?
3. (North American informal) Used to express impatience: enough already.
4. (South African) Used redundantly for emphasis.

Related words

• all
• ready
• all right

Usage notes

Already means “by this time”, while the phrase all ready means “entirely prepared” (we were all ready to leave).^[9]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d e f g Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
9. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
10. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
12. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b A Dictionary of South African English on Historical Principles, Dictionary Unit for South African English, https://dsae.co.za