brightly
/ˈbɹaɪtli/adverb
brightly is spelled B-R-I-G-H-T-L-Y. The wrong spelling people search most is brightley: about 40 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 27 of all searches for the word. Brightly is an adverb meaning “In a bright manner”.
How many letters and syllables are in brightly?
| Letters | 8: B-R-I-G-H-T-L-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.8 times per million words; the 16,228th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, brightley, about 40 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell brightly?
Brightly is spelled B-R-I-G-H-T-L-Y. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 27 of the searches for brightly in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is brightly?
Brightly appears 2.8 times per million words in written English, the 16,228th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce brightly?
- /ˈbɹaɪtli/
Brightly has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-brightly.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of brightly
- brightlier comparative
- more brightly comparative
- brightliest superlative
- most brightly superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does brightly mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
In a bright manner.
The sun was shining brightly, making me squint.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Brightly in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense in a bright manner:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | clairement, précisément |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does brightly come from?
From Middle English brightliche, from Old English beorhtlice, equivalent to bright + -ly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).