# already

> English word · Adverb · IPA /ɔːlˈɹɛdi/ · frequency rank #253

## Definitions
1. Prior to some specified time, either past, present, or future; by this time; previously.
2. So soon.
3. An intensifier used to emphasize impatience or express exasperation.
4. Indicates the completion of an action (whether past or hypothetical), or more generally, perfective aspect.
5. Marks a change in state, more or less in the same manner as the inchoative aspect.

## 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).

## Common misspellings (10)
`alerady`, `allready`, `alraedy`, `alreaddy`, `alreadyy`, `alreayd`, `alreday`, `alrready`, `arleady`, `laready`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/already