especially
/ɪˈspɛʃ.(ə.)li/adverb
especially is spelled E-S-P-E-C-I-A-L-L-Y. The wrong spelling people search most is especialy: about 100 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 91 of all searches for the word. Especially is an adverb meaning “In a special manner; specially”.
How many letters and syllables are in especially?
| Letters | 10: E-S-P-E-C-I-A-L-L-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 162 times per million words; the 625th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 7; the most searched, especialy, about 100 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people search |
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 especially?
Especially is spelled E-S-P-E-C-I-A-L-L-Y. 7 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 25 of the searches for especially 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 especially?
Especially appears 162 times per million words in written English, the 625th 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 especially?
- /ɪˈspɛʃ.(ə.)li/
- /əˈspɛʃ.(ə.)li/
- /ɛsˈpɛʃ.(ə.)li/
Especially has 3 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-us-especially.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with especially
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of especially
- more especially comparative
- most especially superlative
- esp.
- esp
- espc
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does especially mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
In a special manner; specially.
He got up early especially.
- 2
Particularly; to a greater extent than is normal.
- 3
Exeptionally.
The buildings are not especially large.
- 4
Used to place greater emphasis upon someone or something.
Invite them all, especially Molly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate especially?
Wiktionary records 3 abbreviations of especially: esp., punch, super.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Especially in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | spécialement, particulièrement, surtout, en particulier, espécialement |
| German | besonders, extra , speziell, außergewöhnlich, originell |
| Portuguese | especialmente, sobretudo |
| Spanish | especialmente, sobre todo, máxime, más |
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 especially come from?
From especial + -ly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).