portly
/ˈpɔːtli/
"portly" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“portly” is uncommon English (frequency #58,287 among 46,516 “P” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #58,287
- frequency rank, English
- 46,516
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Somewhat fat, pudgy, overweight.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | portly |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈpɔːtli/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #58,287 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “portly” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
portly is uncommon English at frequency #58,287 among 46,516 “P” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈpɔːtli/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
portly has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From an archaic sense of port (“manner in which a person carries himself; bearing; deportment; carriage”) + -ly. The correct English form is portly, spelled P-O-R-T-L-Y.
Definition
- 1Somewhat fat, pudgy, overweight.
- 2Having a dignified bearing; handsome, imposing.
Etymology
From an archaic sense of port (“manner in which a person carries himself; bearing; deportment; carriage”) + -ly.
This word in other languages
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
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Using “portly”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-O-R-T-L-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpɔːtli/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.