fleetingly

adv

"fleetingly" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“fleetingly” is uncommon English (frequency #83,253 among 2,507 “F” headwords), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#83,253
frequency rank, English
2,507
“F” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - in a fleeting manner; transiently

Corpus desk

Index EN-fleetingly · fleetingly · English

fleetingly · rank #83,253 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #83,253
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,507
  • PHOTO-FINISH flagellum

Nearest frequency peer: flagellum (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “fleetingly”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “fleetingly” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for fleetingly
PropertyValue
Headwordfleetingly
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdverb
Letters10
Frequency rank#83,253
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “fleetingly” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).fleetinglyfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “flagellum” (#83,252), “flory” (#83,254), “firebomb” (#83,250). Among 2,507 “F” headwords, “fleetingly” is #83,253. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

fleetingly is uncommon English at frequency #83,253 among 2,507 “F” headwords, classed as anadverb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "in a fleeting manner; transiently".

fleetingly doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From fleeting + -ly. The correct English form is fleetingly, spelled F-L-E-E-T-I-N-G-L-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    in a fleeting manner; transiently

Etymology

From fleeting + -ly.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "fleetingly"?
"fleetingly" is spelled F-L-E-E-T-I-N-G-L-Y.
What does "fleetingly" mean?
As an adverb, "fleetingly" means: in a fleeting manner; transiently
What is the origin of the word "fleetingly"?
From fleeting + -ly. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "fleetingly", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list