I thought ‘friendly’ was an adjective, but some dictionary published in Korea says it can be used as an adverb, and another dictionary says it was used as an adverb before the 16th century. Is ‘friendly’ still used as an adverb or is it used only as an adjective?
Friendly – adjective and adverb?
May 6th, 2009 by Sunghee
5 Responses to “Friendly – adjective and adverb?”
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I am not a native speaker.
So, don’t trust me. ;)
Friendly can be used as adverb, but not often. It’s synonym is “amicably” in this case.
E.g. The natives used us friendly. (ABBYY Lingvo Dictionary)
Now “in a friendly way” is used instead of friendly (adv.)
Good luck!
Does the ABBYY Lingvo Dictionary date its examples?
The most recent example in the OED of “friendly” used as an adverb is from 1869. It also has “The natives used us friendly and with kindness,” but that is from 1807.
I cannot think of a decent example of how one might use “friendly” as an adverb in modern English. I believe it is an obsolete usage. To a modern English speaker it will sound wrong, or at the least very archaic.
As you say, “amicably” is a perfectly good adverb with essentially the same meaning, or youcan say “in a friendly way.” Either of those are good, modern English.
ABBYY appears to be based in Moscow.
I have often thought we needed the word friendlily for in a friendly manner. Oh well….
I just looked up if friendly could ever be used as an adverb because I was observing a teacher who said it could be. I know of no such usage in modern English. Interestingly enough, Webster’s actually listed the adverb, “friendlily.” I have never heard of that word in my life. I guess it is legal, but it is not normal.
Most dictionaries I have consulted list ‘friendly’ as a noun, an adjective, and an adverb. It is not listed as a noun in my older Merriam-Webster. The noun usage I suspect is most recent, as in: “The explorers encountered a friendly, whom they engaged as their guide.” It has the distinct ring of slang, and old slang at that. It is rarely heard anymore outside of bad movie dialog.
It is even more uncommon to find ‘friendly’ used as an adverb. A sentence like “They treated her friendly” sounds odd, even colloquial. It is not incorrect, but it will catch the reader’s or listener’s attention, and needs to be explained by, or supported by, its context. Such usage should be reserved for written dialog or for the spoken word.
Nor would I advise “amicably” as a substitute adverb. To say “The diplomatic meeting ended amicably” may be taken to mean a lack of dispute, rather than any feeling of warmth between the participants. Stick to ‘friendly’ as an adjective, as in “friendly advice.”