meekly

/miːk.li/

//miːk.li// adv

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

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

The verdict

“meekly” is uncommon English (frequency #51,241 among 36,575 “M” headwords), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#51,241
frequency rank, English
36,575
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - In a meek manner; quietly and humbly.

Corpus desk

Index EN-meekly · meekly · English

meekly · rank #51,241 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #51,241
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 36,575
  • PHOTO-FINISH McAdoo

Nearest frequency peer: McAdoo (-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.

Frequency neighbourhood for “meekly”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “meekly” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of May 6, 2026
Key facts for meekly
PropertyValue
Headwordmeekly
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdverb
IPA/miːk.li/
Letters6
Frequency rank#51,241
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “meekly” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). meekly lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

meekly is uncommon English at frequency #51,241 among 36,575 “M” headwords, classed as anadverb, transcribed /miːk.li/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "In a meek manner; quietly and humbly.".

meekly has no tracked misspelling variants, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English mekely, mekeliche, equivalent to meek + -ly. Compare Old Norse mjúkliga. The correct English form is meekly, spelled M-E-E-K-L-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    In a meek manner; quietly and humbly.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. When Faith and Love which parted from thee never Had ripen'd thy just soul to dwell with God, Meekly thou did'st resign this earthly load Of Death, call'd Life; which us from Life doth sever.
  2. It comes from the Latin insurgo, meaning “to rise up within”: so insurrectionists are, etymologically, the same as “insurgents”, even if that is normally a word for those who do not meekly accept western military rule.

Etymology

From Middle English mekely, mekeliche, equivalent to meek + -ly. Compare Old Norse mjúkliga.

This word in other languages

mansamente(Español)humblement(Français)

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.

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "meekly"?
"meekly" is spelled M-E-E-K-L-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /miːk.li/.
What does "meekly" mean?
As an adverb, "meekly" means: In a meek manner; quietly and humbly.
How do you pronounce "meekly"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "meekly" is /miːk.li/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "meekly"?
From Middle English mekely, mekeliche, equivalent to meek + -ly. Compare Old Norse mjúkliga. 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 "meekly", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

McAdoo#51,240Megumi#51,242Minato#51,251logger#51,224
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list