honorary
/ˈɑn.əˌɹɛɹ.i/adjective, noun
honorary is spelled H-O-N-O-R-A-R-Y. The wrong spelling people search most is honory: about 170 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 2 in 10 of all searches for the word. Honorary is an adjective meaning “Given as an honor, with no duties attached, and without payment”.
How many letters and syllables are in honorary?
| Letters | 8: H-O-N-O-R-A-R-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 4.6 times per million words; the 11,870th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, honory, about 170 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 honorary?
Honorary is spelled H-O-N-O-R-A-R-Y. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 2 in 10 of the searches for honorary 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 honorary?
Honorary appears 4.6 times per million words in written English, the 11,870th 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 honorary?
- US /ˈɑn.əˌɹɛɹ.i/
Honorary has 4 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)-Vealhurl-honorary.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of honorary
- honoraries plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does honorary mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Given as an honor, with no duties attached, and without payment.
honorary degree; honorary citizen
- 2
Voluntary.
- 3
Unofficial; practically. Describes the holder of an unofficial position or title that is assigned as a special honor rather than by normal channels.
Megsie is an honorary employee because she helps other customers while she shops here.
noun
- 1
A person who holds an honorary appointment.
- 2
USA kind of secret society that operates in name only, with membership given to honor some achievement.
- 3
An honorarium; a fee for services of no fixed value.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Honorary in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | honoris causa |
| German | Ehren- , ehrenamtlich |
| Portuguese | honorário |
| Spanish | honorario |
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 honorary come from?
From honor + -ary, modelled after French honoraire, from Latin honōrārius.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).