comely
come·ly/ˈkʌmli/adjective
comely is spelled C-O-M-E-L-Y: 6 letters and 2 syllables (come·ly). It appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 62,179th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, comely means “Of a person: attractive or pleasing to look at; beautiful, handsome; also, attractive but not particularly beautiful or handsome” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in comely?
| Letters | 6: C-O-M-E-L-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: come·ly |
| In writing | about once in every 4 million words; the 62,179th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is comely?
Comely appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 62,179th 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 comely?
- US /ˈkʌmli/
Comely has 2 syllables, split come·ly in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-comely.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of comely
- comelier comparative
- more comely comparative
- comeliest superlative
- most comely superlative
- comly
- cumlie
- comelies present, singular, he/she/it
- comelying participle, present
- comelied participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does comely mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Of a person: attractive or pleasing to look at; beautiful, handsome; also, attractive but not particularly beautiful or handsome.
a comely woman
- 2
Of a person, an action, behaviour, etc.: meeting accepted moral or social norms; appropriate, becoming, proper.
- 3
Of a thing: beautiful, elegant, well-composed; also, delicate, fine.
- 4
obsoletePleasing to the feelings or senses; agreeable, nice, pleasant.
verb
- 1
obsoleterareTo embellish or grace (something).
adverb
- 1
archaicSynonym of comelily (“in a comely manner: in an attractive or pleasing manner; in a manner which meets accepted moral or social norms”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Comely in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense of a person: attractive or pleasing to look at – see also beautiful, handsome, l:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | avenant |
| German | ansehnlich, hübsch |
| Portuguese | atraente, lindo |
| Spanish | bien arrostrado, bien gestado |
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 comely come from?
The adjective is derived from Middle English comly, comli, cumly, cumlich (“of a person: beautiful, handsome, etc.; of noble birth, bearing, or character; of behaviour: appropriate, becoming; of an event: convenient; favourable; of a thing: beautiful, wonderful; fitting, proper”), from Old English cymlīċ, cȳmlīċ (“beautiful, comely; splendid; convenient”), from cȳme (“beautiful, comely; splendid; exquisite, fine”) + -līċ (suffix meaning ‘like; relating to’ forming adjectives).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).