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PlainSpell

lovely

love·ly/ˈlʌv.li/adjective, noun, adverb

lovely is spelled L-O-V-E-L-Y: 6 letters and 2 syllables (love·ly). It appears 55 times per million words in written English, the 1,865th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, lovely means “Delightful for beauty, harmony, or grace” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in lovely?

Letters6: L-O-V-E-L-Y
Syllables2: love·ly
In writing55 times per million words; the 1,865th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is lovely?

Lovely appears 55 times per million words in written English, the 1,865th 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 lovely?

  • /ˈlʌv.li/
  • [ˈlʌv.lɪi̯]

Lovely has 2 syllables, split love·ly in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-lovely.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with lovely?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as lovely.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: volley.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of lovely

  • lovelier comparative
  • loveliest superlative
  • lovelies plural
  • more lovely comparative
  • most lovely superlative

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does lovely mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Delightful for beauty, harmony, or grace.

    It's a lovely day and the sun is shining.

  2. 2

    Nice; wonderful.

    It would be lovely to have a little more money to spend.

  3. 3

    obsoleteInspiring love or friendship; amiable.

  4. 4

    obsoleteLoving, filled with love.

  5. 5

    archaicWorthy of praise.

noun

  1. 1

    informalAn attractive, lovely person, especially a (professional) beauty.

    a calendar depicting young lovelies in bikinis

  2. 2

    Term of fond address.

    Goodbye, my lovely.

  3. 3

    A lovely object.

adverb

  1. 1

    informalIn a lovely fashion or manner; beautifully.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Lovely in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Germanlieblich, liebreizend, herrlich, schön (beautiful; charming; very pleasing in form…)
Portugueseadorável, amável, querido (beautiful; charming; very pleasing in form…)
Spanishlindo (beautiful; charming; very pleasing in form…), genial, monono (very nice, wonderful), hermoso (attractive person)
Frenchmagnifique (very nice, wonderful)

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 lovely come from?

From Middle English lovely, luvelich, lufli, from Old English luflīċ, luflīc (“amiable, loving, lovable”), equivalent to love + -ly.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after lovely