Early

Adjective

 * 1) At a time in advance of the usual or expected event.
 * At eleven, we went for an early lunch.
 * She began reading at an early age.
 * His mother suffered an early death.
 * 1) Arriving a time before expected; sooner than on-time.
 * You're early today! I don't usually see you before nine o'clock.
 * The early guests sipped their punch and avoided each other's eyes.
 * 1) Near the start or beginning.
 * ''The play "Two Gentlemen of Verona" is one of Shakespeare's early works.
 * Early results showed their winning 245 out of 300 seats in parliament. The main opponent locked up only 31 seats.

Synonyms

 * : premature
 * : first

Antonyms

 * late

Derived terms

 * earliness
 * early bath
 * early bird/the early bird catches the worm
 * early doors
 * early grave
 * early innings
 * earlyish
 * Early Latin
 * early modern
 * early music


 * early on
 * early purple orchid
 * early retirement
 * early spider orchid
 * early syphilis
 * early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise
 * early warning radar
 * early winter cress
 * early withdrawal
 * nice and early

Adverb

 * 1) At a time before expected; sooner than usual.
 * ''We finished the project an hour sooner than scheduled, so we left early.

Synonyms

 * prematurely

Antonyms

 * late, tardily

Derived terms

 * early doors

Adverbs for Early
unusually; exceptionally; conveniently; amply; unnecessarily; remarkably; uncomfortably; unpleasantly; gloriously; appropriately; sufficiently; ridiculously; needlessly; opportunely; comfortably.

Adverbs for Early
professionally; determinedly; lawfully; honestly; criminally; astoundingly; rapidly; drudgingly.

Thesaurus
a priori, advanced, ages ago, ahead, ahead of time, already, anachronistic, ancient, anciently, antecedent, antedated, antediluvian, anterior, anticipative, anticipatory, antiquated, antique, away back, back, backward, before, before all, beforehand, beforetime, beginning, behind time, behindhand, betimes, bright and early, ci-devant, dated, earlier, elder, ere, ere then, erenow, erstwhile, ex post facto, first, fore, foredated, foregoing, forehand, forehanded, foresighted, foresightedly, former, formerly, heretofore, hitherto, immemorial, in advance, in ancient times, in anticipation, in good time, in olden times, in times past, inappropriate, initial, initially, inopportune, into the past, late, long ago, long since, metachronistic, misdated, mistimed, of old, of yore, old, olden, older, once, onetime, or ever, original, originally, out of date, out of season, overdue, oversoon, parachronistic, past, past due, pioneer, postdated, preceding, precipitant, precocious, precociously, precurrent, preexistent, prehistoric, premature, prematurely, prevenient, previous, previously, primal, prime, primeval, primitive, primordial, prior, priorly, pristine, prochronistic, quondam, recent, retroactive, retrospective, seasonably, senior, some time ago, some time back, sometime, soon, tardy, then, theretofore, timely, unanticipated, unexpected, unpunctual, unseasonable, untimely, years ago, yet

Etymology
From erli:,  ærlice:, from ær: + adverbial suffix -lice:. Cognate with Old Norse árla: ( > Danish and Norwegian årle:)

Adjective

 * Arabic: باكر
 * Bulgarian:
 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin:
 * Czech:, časný
 * Dutch:
 * Finnish: ,
 * French:, ,
 * Georgian: ადრეული
 * German: ,
 * Hungarian:
 * Irish:
 * Japanese:
 * French:, ,
 * Georgian: ადრეული
 * German: ,
 * Hungarian:
 * Irish:
 * Japanese:
 * Hungarian:
 * Irish:
 * Japanese:
 * Japanese:


 * Khmer: មុនម៉ោង
 * Korean: 이르다, 빠르다
 * Kurdish: زوو
 * Latin: matutinus, praecox
 * Latvian: agrs
 * Lithuanian: ankstus, ankstyvas
 * Lojban:
 * Persian: زود
 * Polish:
 * Portuguese:
 * Romanian: ,
 * Russian:
 * Spanish:
 * Swahili:
 * Thai: เนิ่นๆ, เนิ่น
 * Vietnamese: sớm, ban đầu, đầu mùa
 * Welsh: yn fore, cynnar
 * West Frisian:
 * Vietnamese: sớm, ban đầu, đầu mùa
 * Welsh: yn fore, cynnar
 * West Frisian:


 * Bulgarian:, преждевременен
 * Dutch:
 * Finnish: ,
 * French: en avance
 * German: ,
 * Irish:
 * Italian:


 * Korean: 이르다 (ireuda), 빠르다 (ppareuda)
 * Kurdish: زوو
 * Polish:
 * Russian:
 * Spanish: ,
 * Swahili:


 * Finnish:
 * French: ,
 * German:
 * Italian:
 * Korean: 이르다 (ireuda), 빠르다 (ppareuda)
 * Lojban:


 * Polish: wczesny, początkowy
 * Romanian:
 * Russian:
 * Spanish:
 * Swahili:

Adverb

 * Arabic: مبكرا
 * Basque: goizik
 * Breton: abred
 * Bulgarian:
 * Chamicuro:
 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin: 早
 * Czech:
 * Esperanto:
 * Finnish: aikaisin, varhain, ajoissa, hyvissä ajoin
 * French:, , en avance
 * German: früh
 * Greek:
 * Hindi: जल्दी
 * Hittite: karú
 * Hungarian:
 * Icelandic:
 * Ido: frue
 * Italian:


 * Japanese:
 * Korean: 일찍, 빨리
 * Latvian: agri
 * Lithuanian: anksti
 * Persian: زود
 * Polish:
 * Portuguese:
 * Romanian:
 * Russian:
 * Serbian: rano (comparative ranije, superlative najranije)
 * Sicilian: viatu
 * Slovak: skorý
 * Slovene:
 * Spanish:
 * Swahili:
 * Swedish:
 * Turkish:
 * Urdu: جلدی
 * Welsh: cynnar, plygeinwaith

Noun

 * 1) A shift (scheduled work period) that takes place early in the day.
 * 2) * 2007, Paul W. Browning, The Good Guys Wear Blue (page 193)
 * On my first day on the watch after leaving the shoplifting squad I paraded on earlies but had completely forgotten to take my ear ring off.

Anagrams

 * layer
 * relay, re-lay