Dictionary adjective *el(e)- ledig lediglich
(adjective)

Meanings

1.
only, just
(No real difference to "nur", except that it sounds somewhat formal.)
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Word of the Day - "erledigen"

A fun look at the meaning of "erledigen", how to say "Never mind!" and what all that has to do with body parts, memberships and a certain Goethe.

Vocab:

erledigen, das Glied, das Mitglied, gliedern, die Gliederung, ledig, lediglich


Word Family

Root: *el(e)-

The core idea of this root was:

bent, bendable

With the ge-prefix it became Glied, the German word for limb/body part with the core idea of “what bends”.
The sense of ledig (unbound) comes from the notion of being flexible.

In English, the word limb is the only offspring I could find mentioned in etymological sources.

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