-mente
See also: mente, ménte, menté, and mentė
Galician
Etymology
From Old Portuguese, from Latin mens, mente.
Suffix
-mente
- -ly (used to form adverbs from adjectives)
Derived terms
Galician terms suffixed with -mente
Interlingua
Etymology
From Latin mente, ablative singular of mēns (“mind”).
Suffix
-mente
- Used to form adverbs from adjectives; compare the English equivalents -wise, -ly, and -ally.
- physicamente (“physically”)
Usage notes
After a final -c the vowel -a- is inserted, e.g. physicamente (note use of physica rather than physic; *physicmente would be incorrect)
Derived terms
Interlingua terms suffixed with -mente
Italian
Etymology
From Latin mente, ablative singular of mēns (“mind”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *méntis (“thought”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈmen.te/
- Rhymes: -ente
- Hyphenation: -mén‧te
Suffix
-mente
- (productive) used to form adverbs from adjectives; -wise, -ly, -ally
Usage notes
- Because the suffix originates as a reinterpretation of the Latin feminine noun form mente in ablatival locutions [such as clārā mente (literally “with a clear mind”), whence Italian chiaramente]; if the root adjective ends in -o, in formation of the adverb it is employed in its feminine singular form.
- Examples:
- chiara (“clear”) + -mente → chiaramente (“clearly”)
- fisica (“physical”) + -mente → fisicamente (“physically”)
- stupida (“stupid”, “foolish”) + -mente → stupidamente (“stupidly”, “foolishly”)
- Adjectives ending in -e, not distinguishing masculine and feminine forms, simply have the suffix attached to the singular form.
- Example:
- grande (“great”) + -mente → grandemente (“greatly”)
- When the root adjective ends in -le, -lo, -re or -ro, the suffix is attached directly to the consonant and the final vowel of the adjective is dropped.
- Examples:
- speciale (“special”) + -mente → specialmente (“especially”, “particularly”)
- celere (“swift”) + -mente → celermente (“swiftly”)
- Terms derived with this suffix are invariably stressed on the penultimate.
Derived terms
Italian terms suffixed with -mente
- battaglievolmente
- disprezzevolmente
- giochevolmente
- trascorrevolmente
Neapolitan
Etymology
From Latin mens, mente.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /-ˈmɛntɐ/
Suffix
-mente
- used to form adverbs from adjectives, compare English -ly, -wise
Portuguese
Etymology
From Old Portuguese, from Latin mente, ablative singular of mēns (“mind”).
Pronunciation
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈmẽ.t͡ʃi/
- (Southern Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈmẽ.te/
- (Portugal) IPA(key): /ˈmẽ.t(ɨ)/
- Rhymes: -ẽtɨ, -ẽt͡ʃi
- Hyphenation: -men‧te
Suffix
-mente
- -ly; -ally (forms adverbs from adjectives)
- 2000, J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter e o Prisioneiro de Azkaban [Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban] (Harry Potter; 3), Rio de Janeiro: Rocco, →ISBN, page 336:
- Francamente, vão acordar todo mundo!
- Frankly, you are going to wake up everybody!
-
Usage notes
-mente is always added to the feminine form of the adjective, e.g. fisicamente (note use of física rather than físico; *fisicomente would be incorrect)
-mente can be dropped from adverbs other than the last one in a sequence:
- Ele escrevia rápida e freneticamente.
- He was writing quickly and frenetically.
Derived terms
Portuguese terms suffixed with -mente
Spanish
Etymology
A dialectal modification of Old Spanish -miente, -mientre (compare Catalan -ment), from Latin mente, ablative singular of mēns (“mind”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈmente/ [ˈmẽn̪.t̪e] (additionally stressing the syllable of the underlying adjective)
Audio (Colombia) (file) - Rhymes: -ente
- Syllabification: -men‧te
Suffix
-mente
- -wise, -ly, in a specified way; used to form adverbs from adjectives.
- normal (“normal”) + -mente → normalmente (“normally, usually”)
- física (“physical”) + -mente → físicamente (“physically”)
- común (“common”) + -mente → comúnmente (“commonly”)
- loca (“crazy”) + -mente → locamente (“crazily”)
Usage notes
- Adverbs in -mente are formed from the feminine singular forms of adjectives. For example, nuevamente (“newly”) is formed from nueva (“new”), and comúnmente (“commonly”) is formed from común (“common”).
- Not all words ending in <-mente> are adverbs formed with this suffix. For example, vehemente and demente are both adjectives. In fact, adverb vehementemente does exist.
- If the adjective is written with an accent, then the adverb with -mente is written with an accent in the same place; hence comúnmente, rápidamente, and so on. Conversely, if the adjective is written without an accent, then the adverb with -mente is also written without an accent; hence lentamente, nuevamente, and so on.
- In a string of adverbs connected with a conjunction, -mente may be omitted from all but the last. "Vaga, rápida y descuidadamente"
Derived terms
Spanish terms suffixed with -mente
Further reading
- “-mente”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014