friendly
/ˈfɹɛnd.li/adjective, noun, adverb
friendly is spelled F-R-I-E-N-D-L-Y. The wrong spelling people search most is freindly: about 110 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 34 of all searches for the word. Friendly is an adjective meaning “Generally warm, approachable and easy to relate with in character”.
How many letters and syllables are in friendly?
| Letters | 8: F-R-I-E-N-D-L-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 44 times per million words; the 2,290th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, freindly, about 110 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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 friendly?
Friendly is spelled F-R-I-E-N-D-L-Y. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 34 of the searches for friendly 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 friendly?
Friendly appears 44 times per million words in written English, the 2,290th 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 friendly?
- /ˈfɹɛnd.li/
- /ˈfɹɛn.li/
Friendly 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-us-friendly.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of friendly
- friendlier comparative
- more friendly comparative
- friendliest superlative
- most friendly superlative
- friendlies plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does friendly mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Generally warm, approachable and easy to relate with in character.
Your cat seems very friendly.
- 2
Inviting, characteristic of friendliness.
He gave a friendly smile.
- 3
Having an easy or accepting relationship with something.
a user-friendly software program
- 4
Compatible with, or not damaging to (the compounded noun).
The cobbled streets aren't very bike-friendly.
- 5
Without any hostility.
a friendly competition
- 6
Promoting the good of any person; favourable; propitious.
a friendly breeze or gale
- 7
Of or pertaining to friendlies (friendly noun sense 2, below). Also applied to other bipolar confrontations, such as team sports.
The soldier was killed by friendly fire.
- 8
Being or relating to two or more natural numbers with a common abundancy.
friendly
noun
- 1
A game which is of no consequence in terms of ranking, betting, etc.
This match is merely a friendly, so don't worry too much about it.
- 2
A person or entity on the same side as one's own in a conflict.
adverb
- 1
In a friendly manner; like a friend.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Friendly in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | amical, amicale, aimable, gentil, gentille , ami |
| German | freundlich |
| Portuguese | amigável, amistoso , amigo , amigavelmente |
| Spanish | amistoso, amical, amigo |
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 friendly come from?
From Middle English frendly, freendly, frendely, frendlich, from Old English frēondlīċ, from Proto-Germanic *frijōndlīkaz, equivalent to friend + -ly. Cognate with Saterland Frisian früntelk, fjuntelk (“friendly”), West Frisian freonlik (“friendly”), Dutch vriendelijk (“friendly”), German Low German fründelk, frünnelk (“friendly”), German freundlich (“friendly”). Doublet of friendlike.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).