Originally
ɔːˈrɪdʒɪnəli
Definitions
At or from the beginning; in the first place.
ɔːˈrɪdʒɪnəli
At the beginning; in the first place.
The house was originally built in the 1920s.
💡 Simply: It means how something started or what it was like at first. Like, "I originally wanted pizza for dinner, but now I want tacos!"
👶 For kids: When something first started or happened.
More Examples
Originally, I planned to go to the beach, but the weather changed.
Originally, the project was going to take a week.
How It's Used
"The book was originally written in French."
"Originally, the plan was to build a bridge, but it was deemed too expensive."
Idioms & expressions
originally from
Used to indicate the place a person or thing comes from.
"She's originally from Spain."
From "original" + "-ly". "Original" itself comes from the Latin "originalis", meaning "of the origin" or "first".
The word 'originally' has been used in English since the 15th century, reflecting a consistent sense of beginning or starting point.
Memory tip
Think of the word's root: original. That's where it all started.