gingerly
adverb /ˈdʒɪndʒəli/
/ˈdʒɪndʒərli/
- in a careful way, because you are afraid of being hurt, of making a noise, etc.
- He opened the box gingerly and looked inside.
Oxford Collocations DictionaryGingerly is used with these verbs:- lift
- open
- pick
- …
Word Originearly 16th cent. (in the sense ‘daintily, mincingly’): perhaps from Old French gensor ‘delicate’, comparative of gent ‘graceful’, from Latin genitus ‘(well-) born’.