initially
/ɪˈnɪʃəli/adverb
initially is spelled I-N-I-T-I-A-L-L-Y. The wrong spelling people search most is initally: about 160 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 12 of all searches for the word. Initially is an adverb meaning “At the beginning”.
How many letters and syllables are in initially?
| Letters | 9: I-N-I-T-I-A-L-L-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 31 times per million words; the 3,052nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, initally, about 160 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 initially?
Initially is spelled I-N-I-T-I-A-L-L-Y. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 10 of the searches for initially 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 initially?
Initially appears 31 times per million words in written English, the 3,052nd 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 initially?
- /ɪˈnɪʃəli/
- /ɪˈnɪʃli/
Initially 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-initially.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What does initially mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
At the beginning.
Initially, I found city life incredibly difficult, but now I'm used to it.
- 2
Relating to initials.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Initially in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense at the beginning:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | initialement, au début, au commencement |
| German | zunächst, anfangs |
| Portuguese | inicialmente |
| Spanish | inicialmente, al principio, en un principio, al comienzo, al inicio |
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 initially come from?
From initial + -ly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).