disproportionately

“Disproportionately” means in a way that is out of proportion. It is built from the adjective “disproportionate” and the adverb-forming ending “-ly.” The adjective combines “dis-,” a prefix with a negative or reversing force, and “proportionate,” borrowed into English from Latin prōportiōnātus. The prefix’s ancestry is traced through Latin dis- and Proto-Italic *dis- to Proto-Indo-European *d(w)is-; the tree also notes influence from *trís and connects the form with *dwóh₁. The ending “-ly” developed through Old English -līċe and Middle English -ly, with earlier Proto-Germanic and Proto-West Germanic forms. A 2013 New York Times quotation uses “disproportionately” for a government made up, in the writer’s description, of an unusually large share of career politicians educated at Eton and Oxbridge.