gingerly

Etymology

The adverb is possibly derived from Anglo-Norman gençur and Old French gençor, gensor (“more beautiful; more polite”) [and other forms] + English -ly (suffix forming adverbs). Gençor is the comparative form of gent (“beautiful, fair, handsome; high-born, noble; of a person: pleasant, polite; of language: courteous, eloquent; courteously; elegantly, tastefully”), from Late Latin *gentus, a variant of Latin genitus (“(well-)begotten”), the perfect passive participle of gignō (“to bear, beget, give birth to; to cause, produce, yield”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to beget, give birth to; to produce”). The Oxford English Dictionary notes there is a gap of a few centuries in written works between the Anglo-Norman and Old French words which date from the 12th century, and the modern French word which is only attested after the end of the 13th century. Thus, if the modern English word is derived from the Anglo-Norman and Old French words, it must have been transmitted orally or in writings now lost, perhaps as a technical term in dancing. The adjective is derived from the adverb, possibly because -ly is also a suffix forming adjectives.

adv

1. In a cautious and delicate manner; (very) carefully or cautiously.
   He placed the glass jar gingerly on the concrete step.
   Purchasing a snowplow transforms Homer [Simpson] into a new man. Mr. Burns' laziest employee suddenly becomes an ambitious self-starter who buys ad time on local television at 3:17 A.M (prime viewing hours, Homer gingerly volunteers, for everyone from alcoholics to the unemployable to garden-variety angry loners) and makes a homemade commercial costarring his family. 3 June 2012, Nathan Rabin, “The Simpsons (Classic): ‘Mr. Plow’”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2020-10-27
   [Martin Luther] King [Jr.] was later said to have been within a sneeze or a jolt of extinction. Were it not for the pair of cops who gingerly carried him from Blumstein’s department store and the pair of surgeons who performed lifesaving surgery at Harlem Hospital there would have been no "I Have a Dream" speech and likely no national holiday honoring him. 20 January 2014, Michael Daly, “The Black and White Men who Saved Martin Luther King’s Life”, in The Daily Beast, published 14 April 2017 (update), archived from the original on 2021-01-18
   When we got there and went to our room he undressed and shut off the light as I was still doing so, and I got into bed gingerly, facing his turned back, and reached out to touch him. 2021, Megan Nolan, Acts of Desperation, Random House
2. (obsolete) Chiefly of dancing or walking: done with small, dainty steps; daintily; also, with excessive delicacy; affectedly, mincingly.

adj

1. Often of movements: very careful, cautious, or delicate.
   But, ther's somethin' in the very look and voice of Jeems Strebling, even in his gingerly walk, that riles all the black drop in me. 1867, R[ebecca] H[arding] Davis, “The Valley of the Shadow”, in Waiting for the Verdict, New York, N.Y.: Sheldon & Company, published 1868, →OCLC, page 174
   The down "Atlantic Coast Express", headed by Pacific No. 35020 Bibby Line, passes the scene of operations at a gingerly 10 m.p.h. 1961 March, Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, image caption, page 185
   Several gingerly taps on her console fired clusters of modified probes into the maelstrom of the gas giant’s atmosphere. 2012, David [Alan] Mack, chapter 28, in Persistence of Memory (Star Trek: The Next Generation; Cold Equations; book 1), New York, N.Y.: Pocket Books, part 3 (Elegy)
2. (obsolete) Often of a person or the way they move: dainty, delicate; also, excessively delicate; affected, mincing.