historically
/hɪˈstɔɹɪkli/adverb
historically is spelled H-I-S-T-O-R-I-C-A-L-L-Y: 12 letters and 5 syllables. It appears 12 times per million words in written English, the 6,230th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adverb, historically means “In a historic manner; with reference to history or the historical record” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in historically?
| Letters | 12: H-I-S-T-O-R-I-C-A-L-L-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 5 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 12 times per million words; the 6,230th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 historically?
Historically appears 12 times per million words in written English, the 6,230th 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 historically?
- UK /hɪˈstɒɹɪkli/
- US /hɪˈstɔɹɪkli/
Historically has 5 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vininn126-historically.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of historically
- more historically comparative
- most historically superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does historically mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
In a historic manner; with reference to history or the historical record.
Historically speaking, this company has always collected payment before starting work.
- 2
According to history: formerly, in the past, traditionally.
Historically, this company collected payment before starting work.
- 3
To an unprecedented or extremely rare degree.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Historically in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense in a historic manner:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | historiquement |
| Portuguese | historicamente |
| Spanish | históricamente |
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 historically come from?
From historical + -ly or historic + -ally.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).