legitimately
adverb
legitimately is spelled L-E-G-I-T-I-M-A-T-E-L-Y: 12 letters and 5 syllables. It appears 2.3 times per million words in written English, the 18,064th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adverb, legitimately means “In a legitimate manner, properly, fair and square” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in legitimately?
| Letters | 12: L-E-G-I-T-I-M-A-T-E-L-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 5 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.3 times per million words; the 18,064th 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 legitimately?
Legitimately appears 2.3 times per million words in written English, the 18,064th 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 legitimately?
- US
Legitimately 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)-Qwertygiy-legitimately.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of legitimately
- more legitimately comparative
- most legitimately superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does legitimately mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
In a legitimate manner, properly, fair and square.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Legitimately in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense in a legitimate manner:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | légitimement |
| German | legitim |
| Portuguese | legitimamente |
| Spanish | legítimamente |
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 legitimately come from?
From legitimate + -ly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).