kingly

adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"kingly" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“kingly” is uncommon English (frequency #68,361 among 1,236 “K” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#68,361
frequency rank, English
1,236
“K” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Of or belonging to a king or kings; exercised by a king.

Corpus desk

Index EN-kingly · kingly · English

kingly · rank #68,361 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #68,361
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,236
  • PHOTO-FINISH Khadija

Nearest frequency peer: Khadija (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “kingly”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “kingly” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for kingly
PropertyValue
Headwordkingly
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters6
Frequency rank#68,361
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “kingly” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).kinglyfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “Khadija” (#68,360), “kitchenware” (#68,362), “Kody” (#68,363). Among 1,236 “K” headwords, “kingly” is #68,361. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

kingly is uncommon English at frequency #68,361 among 1,236 “K” headwords, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

kingly has no tracked misspelling variants, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our dataset records no confusable match here, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English kyngly, from Old English *cyninglīċ (“kingly, royal”), equivalent to king + -ly. Cognate with Dutch koninklijk (“kingly, royal”), German königlich (“kingly”), Swedish kunglig (“kingly”). Compare also Old English cynelīċ (“kingly, royal, … The correct English form is kingly, spelled K-I-N-G-L-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    Of or belonging to a king or kings; exercised by a king.
  2. 2
    Characteristic of kings, majestic, regal; as befits a king, in the manner of a king.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how kingly appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. O thou dull god, why liest thou with the vile / In loathsome beds, and leav'st the kingly couch / A watch-case or a common 'larum-bell?
  2. 1701, Jonathan Swift, A Discourse of the Contests and Dissensions between the Nobles and the Commons in Athens and Rome, Chapter IV, in The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, edited by John Nichols, London: J. Johnson, 1801, Vol. 2, pp. 328-9 https://books.google.ca/books?id=fN4NAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false But in Sparta, which was call…

Etymology

From Middle English kyngly, from Old English *cyninglīċ (“kingly, royal”), equivalent to king + -ly. Cognate with Dutch koninklijk (“kingly, royal”), German königlich (“kingly”), Swedish kunglig (“kingly”). Compare also Old English cynelīċ (“kingly, royal, public”).

Synonyms

kinglikemajesticregalroyal

Antonyms

unkinglikeunkingly

This word in other languages

königlich(Deutsch)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "kingly"?
"kingly" is spelled K-I-N-G-L-Y.
What does "kingly" mean?
As an adjective, "kingly" means: Of or belonging to a king or kings; exercised by a king.
What is the origin of the word "kingly"?
From Middle English kyngly, from Old English *cyninglīċ (“kingly, royal”), equivalent to king + -ly. Cognate with Dutch koninklijk (“kingly, royal”), German königlich (“kingly”), Swedish kunglig (“kingly”). Compare also Old English cynelīċ (“kingl... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "kingly", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Kasumi#68,357Karnak#68,355krantz#68,368Judean#68,348

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list