already
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɔːlˈɹɛdi/
ipa: /ɔlˈɹɛdi/
ipa: /ɑlˈɹɛdi/
note: Indic
ipa: /ˈɔlˌrɛɖi/
note: Indic
ipa: /əlˈrɛɖi/
rhymes: -ɛdi
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).
Senses: examples: text: I was surprised that she hadn’t already told me the news.
text: Much of what he said I knew already.
text: Tho, when-as all things ready were aright, / The Damzel was before the Altar ſet, / Being already dead with fearful fright.
ref: 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
english: Fanny Hill
translation: Fanny Hill
text: 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.
ref: 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:
text: Plastics are energy-rich substances, which is why many of them burn so readily. Any organism that could unlock and use that energy would do well in the Anthropocene. Terrestrial bacteria and fungi which can manage this trick, already familiar to experts in the field.
ref: 2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
glosses: Prior to some specified time, either past, present, or future; by this time; previously.
examples: text: Are you quitting already?
glosses: So soon.
examples: text: I wish they'd finish already, so we can get going.
text: Enough already!
text: Be quiet already!
text: Enough already with the lack of glamour!
ref: 1988 June 24, Liz Smith, Toledo Blade, Toledo, Ohio, page P-5:
glosses: An intensifier used to emphasize impatience or express exasperation.
examples: text: You frame the picture for me already anot?
translation: Have you framed the picture yet?
english: Have you framed the picture yet?
bold_translation_offsets: 0
4
text: “Yah, I sign already,” my mother replied.
ref: 1999, Alfian Sa'at, Corridor, Singapore: SNP Editions, →OCLC, page 136:
synonyms: word: liao
glosses: Indicates the completion of an action (whether past or hypothetical), or more generally, perfective aspect.
examples: text: I don’t think he can take it already.
translation: I don’t think he can take it any more.
english: I don’t think he can take it any more.
bold_translation_offsets: 29
37
text: Your ice cream is melting already.
translation: Your ice cream is starting to melt.
english: Your ice cream is starting to melt.
bold_translation_offsets: 18
29
text: Overcook already, need to redo.
translation: We’ve overcooked it, we need to redo it.
english: We’ve overcooked it, we need to redo it.
text: Your grandmother angry already.
translation: Now your grandmother’s angry.
english: Now your grandmother’s angry.
bold_translation_offsets: 0
3
text: Cannot wait already, buay tahan already. I hope she doesn’t complain to anyone.
ref: 2006, Elangovan, Smegma, →ISBN, page 39:
text: Okay lah, okay lah. Maybe I senile already. Like this house.
ref: 2009, Jean Tay, Boom, Epigram Books, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:
text: Thank you ah, Mabel. But I think now don’t need already lah, make you come all the way to Braddell so leceh.
ref: 2014, Jolene Tan, A Certain Exposure, Epigram Books, →ISBN:
text: “Wah, so tall already, ah? Primary what already, ha?
ref: 2022, Daren Shiau, chapter VIII, in Heartland, Ethos Books, →ISBN:
synonyms: word: liao
glosses: Marks a change in state, more or less in the same manner as the inchoative aspect.
Derived terms: alreadiness
always already
that ship has already sailed
that train has already left the station
Related terms: word: yet
word: what
word: lah1–14
word: lor2–3
word: lor1
word: ah6–7
word: leh1–2
word: mah
word: leh3–6
word: one1–3
word: hor1
word: know
word: nia
word: only
word: sia
word: hor2
word: ah1–3
word: hah1–3
word: meh
word: ba2
word: leh7–11
word: ba1
word: liao
urls: https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0378-2166%2892%2990106-l
word: Gupta
urls: https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0378-2166%2892%2990106-l
word: A. F. (1992)
urls: https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0378-2166%2892%2990106-l
word: in
urls: https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0378-2166%2892%2990106-l
word: volume 18
urls: https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0378-2166%2892%2990106-l
word: number 1
urls: https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0378-2166%2892%2990106-l
word: →DOI