manfully

adv

"manfully" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“manfully” is uncommon English (frequency #89,597 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#89,597
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - In a manful manner; with the characteristics considered typical of a man, such as strength, courage, and determination.

Corpus desk

Index EN-manfully · manfully · English

manfully · rank #89,597 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #89,597
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH manioc

Nearest frequency peer: manioc (+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 “manfully”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for manfully
PropertyValue
Headwordmanfully
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdverb
Letters8
Frequency rank#89,597
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “manfully” 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).manfullyfalls in this rarity band:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “manioc” (#89,598), “manzanita” (#89,599), “Manado” (#89,594). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “manfully” is #89,597. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

manfully is uncommon English at frequency #89,597 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as anadverb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "In a manful manner; with the characteristics considered typical of a man, such as strength, courage, and determination.".

manfully doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English manfully; equivalent to manful + -ly. The correct English form is manfully, spelled M-A-N-F-U-L-L-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    In a manful manner; with the characteristics considered typical of a man, such as strength, courage, and determination.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. […] Apollyon wounded him in his head, his hand and foot; this made Chriſtian give a little back: Apollyon therefore followed his work amain, and Chriſtian again took courage, and reſiſted as manfully as he could.
  2. She manfully struggled on, however - womanfully would perhaps be a stronger and more appropriate word. She had to calculate not only how to play her own hand correctly, but she had to calculate on her partner's probable errors.

Etymology

From Middle English manfully; equivalent to manful + -ly.

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 "manfully"?
"manfully" is spelled M-A-N-F-U-L-L-Y.
What does "manfully" mean?
As an adverb, "manfully" means: In a manful manner; with the characteristics considered typical of a man, such as strength, courage, and determination.
What is the origin of the word "manfully"?
From Middle English manfully; equivalent to manful + -ly. 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 "manfully", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list