primarily
/pɹaɪˈmɛɹ.əli/adverb
primarily is spelled P-R-I-M-A-R-I-L-Y. The wrong spelling people search most is primarly: about 100 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 13 of all searches for the word. Primarily is an adverb meaning “Of a primary or central nature, first and foremost”.
How many letters and syllables are in primarily?
| Letters | 9: P-R-I-M-A-R-I-L-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 30 times per million words; the 3,114th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, primarly, about 100 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell primarily?
Primarily is spelled P-R-I-M-A-R-I-L-Y. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 13 of the searches for primarily in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is primarily?
Primarily appears 30 times per million words in written English, the 3,114th 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 primarily?
- UK /ˈpɹaɪ.mə.ɹə.li/
- UK /pɹaɪˈmɛɹ.əli/
- US /pɹaɪˈmɛɹ.əli/
Primarily has 4 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-primarily2.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-primarily.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with primarily?
5 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as primarily from its last stressed vowel (/ɛɹəli/):
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).
What does primarily mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
Of a primary or central nature, first and foremost.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Primarily in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense of a primary or central nature:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | principalement, essentiellement, surtout |
| German | hauptsächlich, in erster Linie |
| Spanish | primariamente |
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 primarily come from?
From primary + -ly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).