If I put 許 into a Japanese dictionary I get either the results "gari" or "kyo"
for it alone, which don't seem to be words on there own but there is a meaning
explained. Jisho says the kanji means permit or approve, which seems to be
more in line with kyo words.

Anywho, it is used for the "baka" part in bakari, bakarini and bakaridenaku.
I've noticed so far in Japanese that a lot of parts of words combine to make
new words (sometimes of another word class entirely). Plenty of times the
combination seems to make sense. And I wonder if the same goes here. What does
bakari mean at its core if it has one and why does combining it with these
other things result in these new meanings?
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meaning etymology
What does "許り" (Bakari) mean and what happens when you combine it with ka, ni and denaku (bakarini) (bakarika) (bakaridenaku)
`ばか-り` is a rare kun-reading of 許. My IMEs (both ATOK and MS-IME) even refused
to convert ばかり into 許り. I could barely read it, but I would say you can forget
this kun-reading forever unless you're interested in reading historical
documents without furigana. (Note that when jisho.org or similar dictionary
sites say "usually written using kana", it actually means "almost always
written in kana".)

ばかり is categorized as a **particle** like が, から, こそ. Its base meaning is
_only_ or _just_. As is the case with all other particles, it's probably
better to learn from example sentences:

  * [JGram - ばかり](http://www.jgram.org/pages/viewOne.php?tagE=bakari-2)
  * [Learn JLPT N3 Grammar: ばかり](http://japanesetest4you.com/flashcard/learn-jlpt-n3-grammar-%E3%81%B0%E3%81%8B%E3%82%8A-bakari/)
  * [Definitions of ばかりに, ばかりか, ばかりでなく on jisho.org](http://jisho.org/search/%E3%81%B0%E3%81%8B%E3%82%8A)

**EDIT:** "It actually means 'almost always written in kana' " was an
overstatement. There are many words marked as "usually written using kana
alone" that are almost unreadable to average Japanese speakers (for example
[this](http://jisho.org/word/%E8%9F%8B%E8%9F%80)). But many words marked as
such are actively written using kanji by some. You may have to use a corpus to
determine how frequently each kanji is used.
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Your post has the
[**etymology**](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/etymology)
tag, and since I'm that kind of word nerd, here it is.

## Derivation of ばかり

This arose from regular verb はかる, variously spelled in kanji as 計る, 量る, 測る,
図る, 謀る, or 諮る, with an underlying meaning of _"to measure"_. This derived in
turn from the noun はか with an underlying meaning of _"measure, amount"_.

The meaning of ばかり apparently started from a sense of _"a full measure of, as
much as..., of this amount"_ , in keeping with the term's origins. Over time,
this positive sense of fulfilling an amount shifted instead to indicating a
negative sense of limitation to that amount: from _"a **full measure** of XX"_
to _" **no more than** XX"_.

There was actually a similar shift in meaning in the English term _"just"_.
This started as _"right, proper, true"_ with a positive sense, which is still
evident when used as an adjective: _"a **just** law"_. Over time, this shifted
to a negative limiting sense when used as an adverb: _" **just** a law"_.

Online references:

  * Daijirin entry at [Weblio](http://www.weblio.jp/content/%E3%81%B0%E3%81%8B%E3%82%8A)
  * Daijisen entry at [goo jisho](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/174835/meaning/m0u/)
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