appena

appena

1. Essive singular form of appi.

• appaen, appane, neppaa

From Latin ad paene (“almost”). Unrelated to pena (“pain, punishment”).

Compare Catalan a penes, Esperanto apenaŭ, French à peine, Ido apene, Portuguese apenas, and Spanish apenas.

appena

1. barely, hardly
2. (in regards to time) just; moments ago, recently
3. as soon as

   Vi risponderemo appena possibile. = “We will reply to you as soon as possible.”

Note that non appena has the same meaning as appena.

• mica
• quasi