The suffix -ly in English is usually a contraction of "-like", similar to the Anglo-Saxon "lice" and German "lich". It is commonly added to an adjective to form an adverb, but in some cases it is used to form an adjective, such as "ugly" or "manly". The adjective to which the suffix is added may have been lost from the language, as in the case of "early", in which the Anglo-Saxon word "aer" only survives in the poetic usage "ere".