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PlainSpell

fly

/flaɪ/noun, verb, adjective

fly is spelled F-L-Y: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 56 times per million words in written English, the 1,822nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, fly means “Any insect of the order Diptera; characterized by having two wings (except for some wingless species), also called true flies” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of fly is flies or flys.

How many letters and syllables are in fly?

Letters3: F-L-Y
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing56 times per million words; the 1,822nd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in 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).

How common is fly?

Fly appears 56 times per million words in written English, the 1,822nd 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 fly?

  • /flaɪ/
  • [ˈflaɪ̯]
  • Australia [ˈflɑ̟ɪ̯]

Fly has one syllable (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-fly.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of fly

  • flies plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • flying participle, present
  • flew past, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • flown participle, past
  • flys plural
  • flied participle, past
  • flyed participle, past
  • flier comparative
  • flyer comparative
  • fliest superlative
  • flyest superlative

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does fly mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    Any insect of the order Diptera; characterized by having two wings (except for some wingless species), also called true flies.

  2. 2

    Especially, any of the insects of the family Muscidae, such as the common housefly (other families of Diptera include mosquitoes and midges).

  3. 3

    Those or any similar but not closely related insect, such as a dragonfly, butterfly, or gallfly.

  4. 4

    A lightweight fishing lure resembling an insect.

  5. 5

    A chest exercise performed by moving extended arms from the sides to in front of the chest. (also flye)

  6. 6

    The butterfly stroke (plural is normally flys).

  7. 7

    obsoleteA witch's familiar.

  8. 8

    obsoleteA parasite.

  9. 9

    obsoleteThe action of flying; flight.

  10. 10

    An act of flying.

    There was a good wind, so I decided to give the kite a fly.

  11. 11

    A fly ball.

  12. 12

    Ellipsis of fly route.

  13. 13

    A piece of canvas that covers the opening at the front of a tent.

  14. 14

    IndiaobsoleteThe sloping or roof part of the canvas of a tent.

  15. 15

    A strip of material (sometimes hiding zippers or buttons) at the front of a pair of trousers, pants, underpants, bootees, etc.

    Ha-ha! Your fly's undone!

  16. 16

    The moving portion of an extendable ladder.

  17. 17

    ScotlandA wing.

    The bullet barely grazed the wild fowl's fly.

  18. 18

    Alternative form of vly (“swamp (in New York)”).

verb

  1. 1

    To travel through the air, another gas, or a vacuum, without being in contact with a grounded surface.

    Birds of passage fly to warmer regions as it gets colder in winter.

  2. 2

    To take a flight on a plane; to pilot or crew a plane.

    My airline needs me to get clearance before I can fly again.

  3. 3

    To be in the winged adult stage.

    This species flies from late summer until frost.

  4. 4

    colloquialTo be accepted, come about or work out.

    Let's see if that idea flies.

  5. 5

    To cause to fly (travel or float in the air): to transport via air or the like.

    Charles Lindbergh flew his airplane The Spirit of St. Louis across the Atlantic ocean.

  6. 6

    To arrange for someone to take a flight.

    We flew the kids out to see their grandparents.

  7. 7

    To pilot a plane over a region or on a route.

    This is the first time I flew the Pacific.

  8. 8

    To complete (a goal, task, mission, etc.) while crewing an aircraft or spacecraft.

  9. 9

    To hit a fly ball; to hit a fly ball that is caught for an out. Compare ground (verb) and line (verb).

    Jones flied to right in his last at-bat.

adjective

  1. 1

    datedslangQuick-witted, alert, mentally sharp.

  2. 2

    slangClandestine, surreptitious

  3. 3

    slangWell dressed, smart in appearance; in style, cool.

    He's pretty fly.

  4. 4

    slangBeautiful; displaying physical beauty.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Fly in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchmouche (insect of the order Diptera), voler (to travel through air), piloter, faire voler (to cause to travel through the air), braguette (strip that hides the opening of trousers/pants…), cool (well dressed)
GermanFliege, Flüüge (insect of the order Diptera), fliegen (to travel through air), Kunstköder, Blinker (fishing lure), fliehen (to flee)
Portuguesedíptero (insect of the order Diptera), voar (to travel through air), fazer voar (to cause to travel through the air), fugir (to flee), mosca (insect of the family Muscidae), voo (act of flying)
Spanishmosco, mosca (insect of the order Diptera), volar, circunvolar (to travel through air), hacer volar (to cause to travel through the air), huir (to flee)

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 fly come from?

From Middle English fflye, flehe, flei, fleie, fley, fleye, fleȝe, flie, fliȝe, flye, vliȝe, vlye, from Old English flēge, flēoge, flīeġe (“a fly”), from Proto-West Germanic *fleugā, from Proto-Germanic *fleugǭ (“a fly”), from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (“to flow, fly, run; to splash”), enlargement of *plew- (“to flow, fly, run”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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