chilly
/ˈt͡ʃɪli/adjective
chilly is spelled C-H-I-L-L-Y: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 3.2 times per million words in written English, the 14,928th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, chilly means “Cold enough to cause discomfort” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in chilly?
| Letters | 6: C-H-I-L-L-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.2 times per million words; the 14,928th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is chilly?
Chilly appears 3.2 times per million words in written English, the 14,928th 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 chilly?
- US /ˈt͡ʃɪli/
Chilly 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: En-uk-chilly.ogg, En-au-chilly.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with chilly
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: chile, chili, chilli (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Also written: chili.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with chilly?
4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as chilly from its last stressed vowel (/ɪli/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of chilly
- chillier comparative
- chilliest superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does chilly mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Cold enough to cause discomfort.
- 2
Feeling uncomfortably cold.
I’m getting rather chilly over here – could you shut the window please?
- 3
Distant and cool; unfriendly.
She gave me a chilly look when I made the suggestion.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Chilly in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
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 chilly come from?
From chill + -y. Cognate with Swedish kylig (“chilly”), Norwegian kjølig (“chilly”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).