roughly
/ˈɹʌf.li/adverb
roughly is spelled R-O-U-G-H-L-Y. The wrong spelling people search most is roughtly: about 10 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 37 of all searches for the word. Roughly is an adverb meaning “In a rough manner; without kindness, softness, or gentleness”.
How many letters and syllables are in roughly?
| Letters | 7: R-O-U-G-H-L-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 23 times per million words; the 3,875th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, roughtly, about 10 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 roughly?
Roughly is spelled R-O-U-G-H-L-Y. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 19 of the searches for roughly 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 roughly?
Roughly appears 23 times per million words in written English, the 3,875th 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 roughly?
- US /ˈɹʌf.li/
Roughly has 2 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-roughly.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of roughly
- roughlier comparative
- more roughly comparative
- roughliest superlative
- most roughly superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does roughly mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
In a rough manner; without kindness, softness, or gentleness.
- 2
Unevenly or irregularly.
- 3
Without precision or exactness; imprecisely but close to in quantity or amount; approximately.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Roughly in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | rudement , approximativement |
| German | grob , uneben |
| Portuguese | rudemente, precariamente, a grosso modo , aproximadamente |
| Spanish | toscamente , a grandes rasgos |
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 roughly come from?
From rough + -ly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).