passably
adverb
passably is spelled P-A-S-S-A-B-L-Y: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 15 million words in written English, the 117,098th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adverb, passably means “In a passable fashion; moderately; adequately” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in passably?
| Letters | 8: P-A-S-S-A-B-L-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 15 million words; the 117,098th 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 passably?
Passably appears about once in every 15 million words in written English, the 117,098th 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 passably?
Passably has 3 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)-Vealhurl-passably.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of passably
- more passably comparative
- most passably superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does passably mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
In a passable fashion; moderately; adequately.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does passably come from?
From passable + -ly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).