already
advUK /ɔːlˈɹɛdi/ · /ɑlˈɹɛdi/
Etymology
From Middle English alredy (“fully; already”), equivalent to al- (“all, completely”) + ready. Cognate with West Frisian alreeds (“already”), Dutch alreeds (“already”), Afrikaans alreeds (“already”), Middle Low German alreide, alreids ("already"; whence modern German Low German alreeds (“already”)), Danish allerede (“already”), Swedish allaredan (“already”), Norwegian Nynorsk allereie (“already”). More at all, ready. The use as an intensifier in American English is a semantic loan from Yiddish שוין (shoyn), attested from 1903. In Singapore English, the use of already as a marker of action completion and change of state is analogous to Hokkien 了 (liáu), Teochew 了 (liao²) and Mandarin 了 (le). Compare Malay (su)dah and Cantonese 咗 (zo²), 喇 (laa³).
Prior to some specified time, either past, present, or future; by this time; previously.
- I was surprised that she hadn’t already told me the news.
- Much of what he said I knew already.
4 more examples
- I still haven't seen that movie. I hope you haven't already seen it either.
- Tho, when-as all things ready were aright, / The Damzel was before the Altar ſet, / Being already dead with fearful fright.1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- slipping then my cloaths off, I crept under the bed-cloaths, where I found the young stripling already nestled, and the touch of his warm flesh rather pleas'd than alarm'd me.1749, [John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or volume)”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC:
- It was already dusk, and the lamps were just being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, waiting for the coming of its occupant.1891 June 25, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Adventure I.—A Scandal in Bohemia.”, in Geo[rge] Newnes, editor, The Strand Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly, volume II, London: George Newnes, Limited, […], published July 1891, →OCLC:
So soon.
- Are you quitting already?
- I wish they'd finish already, so we can get going.
- Enough already!
2 more examples
- Be quiet already!
- Enough already with the lack of glamour!1988 June 24, Liz Smith, Toledo Blade, Toledo, Ohio, page P-5:
Singapore, Singlish Indicates the completion of an action (whether past or hypothetical), or more generally, perfective aspect.
- You frame the picture for me already anot?
- “Yah, I sign already,” my mother replied.1999, Alfian Sa'at, Corridor, Singapore: SNP Editions, →OCLC, page 136:
Singapore, Singlish Marks a change in state, more or less in the same manner as the inchoative aspect.
- I don’t think he can take it already.
- Your ice cream is melting already.
4 more examples
- Overcook already, need to redo.
- Your grandmother angry already.
- Cannot wait already, buay tahan already. I hope she doesn’t complain to anyone.2006, Elangovan, Smegma, →ISBN, page 39:
- Okay lah, okay lah. Maybe I senile already. Like this house.2009, Jean Tay, Boom, Epigram Books, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:
- Derived terms
- alreadiness, always already, that ship has already sailed, that train has already left the station