legibly

The word "legibly" is built upon the Latin verb legere, which originally meant "to gather, collect, pick" but evolved in Late Latin to specifically mean "to read"—the act of gathering meaning from letters. This root passed into English via Old French in words like "legend" and "lecture." The suffix -ibly is an adverbial form of -able, indicating capability. Therefore, the literal construction "in a readable manner" perfectly captures the modern abstract meaning of writing or print that is clear and decipherable.

Structure: leg (read) + ibly (adverb suffix) - leg: From Latin legere (to read, to gather). Functional role: root conveying the core meaning of reading. - ibly: A variant of the adverbial suffix -ably, from Latin -abilis (capable of) + -iter (adverb-forming suffix). Functional role: suffix forming an adverb meaning "in a manner capable of being [verb]ed".