Gingerly

This word meaning cautiously or timidly has nothing to do with ginger up, the spice ginger or the colour ginger as in ginger-haired. The word is derived from an archaic meaning of gent meaning noble or wellborn, in use since the 15th century. When Edmund Spenser (1552-1599) wrote, “He loved a lady gent” he was not referring to a transvestite, he was referring to a woman of noble standing. The comparative form of gent was genter (also archaic) as is the adverb genterly, which eventually evolved into gingerly by the late 16th century. Its original meaning of elegantly or nobly then evolved into daintily or fastidiously and then into its current meaning of cautiously or timidly by the early 17th century.