earlyish en · ADJ
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ey- Proto-Indo-European *-eri Proto-Indo-European *h₂éyeri Proto-Germanic *airi Proto-Germanic *airiz Old English ǣr Proto-Indo-European *leyg-der. Proto-Germanic *līkąder. Proto-Germanic *-līkaz Proto-Germanic *-ê Proto-Germanic *-līkê Proto-West Germanic *-līkē Old English -līċe Old English ǣrlīċe Middle English erly English early Proto-Indo-European *-iskos Proto-Germanic *-iskaz Proto-West Germanic *-isk Old English -isċ Middle English -isch English -ish English earlyish From early + -ish.
Meanings
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(not-comparable) Somewhat early
Old Jermyn sat down in his favourite chair by one of the windows overlooking Pall Mall. It was earlyish, and the big room—empty and noiseless—and lined with books between its high windows, seemed to envelop old Jermyn with velvet arms.
1927, Warwick Deeping, “28, I”, in Kitty:From outside the music was thumping, it had been Big Band jazz and now it was earlyish rock ’n’ roll, such as Rachel and Gerald might conceivably have danced to twenty-five years ago.
2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 12, in The Line of Beauty […], London: Picador, →ISBN: