recently
/ˈɹi.sənt.li/adverb
recently is spelled R-E-C-E-N-T-L-Y: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 105 times per million words in written English, the 1,021st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adverb, recently means “a short while ago” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in recently?
| Letters | 8: R-E-C-E-N-T-L-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 105 times per million words; the 1,021st 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 recently?
Recently appears 105 times per million words in written English, the 1,021st 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 recently?
- UK /ˈɹiːsənt.li/
- US /ˈɹi.sənt.li/
- US [ˈɹi.sn̩ʔ.li]
Recently 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-recently.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of recently
- more recently comparative
- most recently superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does recently mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
a short while ago.
My recently published book about the life stories of recently-arrived immigrants.
- 2
in recent times.
I haven't been sleeping well recently.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Recently in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense in the recent past:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | dernièrement, récemment, ces derniers temps |
| German | neulich, vor kurzem, in letzter Zeit |
| Portuguese | recentemente, ultimamente, nos últimos tempos |
| Spanish | recientemente, hace poco, últimamente, recién, enantes, endenantes |
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 recently come from?
From recent + -ly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).