Physically means in the body rather than in the mind. Physically exhausted, physically impossible, physically present.
Physically impossible is stronger than merely very difficult — it claims the laws of nature forbid it, and it is usually said when they do not. The word also marks the contrast with mentally, which is a distinction medicine now draws far less sharply than it used to.
1adverbphysicallyIn the body rather than in the mind.
“The job is physically demanding, as you're on your feet all day.”
physically is a manner.
Physical plus -ly, from Greek physis, nature. Physics and physician come from the same nature.
Proto-Indo-European
*leyǵ- — to bind, tie
Latin
alligāre
Old French
alier — to join together, unite; to alloy (metals); (cooking) to combine ingredients
Middle French
alier
Anglo-Norman
alier
Middle English
allien
English
ally
English, today
physically
Built from
From physic + -ally or physical + -ly. ally comes from Middle English allien, alien (“to form an alliance, associate, join; to become an ally; to introduce (someone) as an ally; to marry; to become related (to someone); to attack, engage in combat; to combine; (cooking) to combine ingredients, especially to bind them together”)alie, alleye, allie, ally, allye, aly, alye, alyȝe, from Anglo-Norman alier, allier, Middle French alier, allierallyer, alyer, and Old French alier (“to join together, unite; to alloy (metals); (cooking) to combine ingredients”) (modern French allier), from Latin alligāre, the present active infinitive of alligō, adligō (“to bind around, to, or up (something), bandage, fasten, fetter, tie; to hold fast; to detain, hinder”), from al-, ad- + ligō (“to bind, tie; to bandage, wrap around; to unite”) (from Proto-Indo-European leyǵ- (“to bind, tie”)). a doublet of allay and alligate and alloy and ligament.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA