pretty and prettily

[Nightmare85]

Hello guys,
When I was young -D) I learned there is a define difference between pretty and prettily.

Pretty: very
This car is pretty fast. This car is very fast.

Prettily: beautiful, handsome
She is a prettily woman.

Okay, but there are some titles like:
Pretty woman. (Julia Roberts)
I really doubt its meaning is "Very woman" - makes no sense.
Why isn't it called:
Prettily woman. ?

Is this an American English vs. British English?

P.S. I've never heard prettily anyway...

Cheers!

 

[Offroad]

'pretty' also means 'beautiful, gorgeous, good-looking'.

'prettily' means 'in a pretty way'

They dance prettily. (They're good dancers)
They are pretty. (They're good-looking)


[not a teacher]

 

[Linguist__]

'Pretty' meaning 'very' is a fairly recent addition to the word.

You should have learned 'pretty' as the adjective meaning 'pleasing to the senses; beautiful', and 'prettily' is the adverb of this.

Then, 'pretty' is also an adverb which means 'very' and 'fairly; quite'.

 

[Raymott]

Hello guys,
When I was young -D) I learned there is a definite difference between pretty and prettily.

Prettily: beautiful, handsome
She is a prettily woman.

There is a difference, as the others have described, but what you learned is not it.
You cannot say "She is a prettily woman".
'Prettily' does not mean 'beautiful, handsome'. It's an adverb, so in this context it would 'beautifully, handsomely'.