publicly
/ˈpʌb.lɪ.kli/adverb
publicly is spelled P-U-B-L-I-C-L-Y. The wrong spelling people search most is publicaly: about 70 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 16 of all searches for the word. Publicly is an adverb meaning “In public, openly, in an open and public manner”.
How many letters and syllables are in publicly?
| Letters | 8: P-U-B-L-I-C-L-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 19 times per million words; the 4,444th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, publicaly, about 70 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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).
How do you spell publicly?
Publicly is spelled P-U-B-L-I-C-L-Y. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 16 of the searches for publicly 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 publicly?
Publicly appears 19 times per million words in written English, the 4,444th 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 publicly?
- US /ˈpʌb.lɪ.kli/
- /ˈpʊb.lɪ.kli/
- Australia /ˈpɐb.lɪ.kli/
Publicly 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: En-us-publicly.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of publicly
- more publicly comparative
- most publicly superlative
- publically
- publictly rare
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does publicly mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
In public, openly, in an open and public manner.
criticize someone publicly
- 2
By, for, or on behalf of the public.
publicly available
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Publicly in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense in an open and public manner – see also in public:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | publiquement |
| German | öffentlich |
| Portuguese | publicamente |
| Spanish | públicamente |
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 publicly come from?
From public + -ly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).