deftly

the adjective 'deft' entered middle english around the 15th century, originally meaning 'gentle' or 'meek', from the middle english 'defte' or 'dafte', which meant 'simple' or 'foolish'. this middle english term evolved from the old english 'gedæfte', meaning 'mild' or 'gentle'. the semantic shift from 'gentle' to its modern sense of 'skillful' and 'dexterous' is thought to have occurred through an intermediate sense of 'apt' or 'fit', influenced by the concept of a gentle hand being a skillful one. the adverb 'deftly' is formed by the standard english adverbial suffix '-ly', which has germanic origins, attached to this established adjective.

the word is a simplex adverb formed by adding the suffix '-ly' to the adjective 'deft'. the adjective 'deft' itself is a single, unsegmentable morpheme in modern english.