safely
safe·ly/ˈseɪfli/adverb
safely is spelled S-A-F-E-L-Y, 2 syllables: safe·ly. The wrong spelling people search most is savely: about 40 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 28 of all searches for the word. Safely is an adverb meaning “In a safe manner; without risk; using caution above all else”.
How many letters and syllables are in safely?
| Letters | 6: S-A-F-E-L-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: safe·ly |
| In writing | 17 times per million words; the 4,934th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, savely, about 40 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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 safely?
Safely is spelled S-A-F-E-L-Y. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 29 of the searches for safely 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 safely?
Safely appears 17 times per million words in written English, the 4,934th 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 safely?
- /ˈseɪfli/
Safely has 2 syllables, split safe·ly in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-safely.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of safely
- more safely comparative
- safelier comparative, rare
- most safely superlative
- safeliest rare, superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does safely mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
In a safe manner; without risk; using caution above all else.
- 2
In a secure manner; without the possibility of injury or harm resulting.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Safely in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | prudemment , en toute sécurité |
| Portuguese | seguramente |
| Spanish | seguramente, a salvamano, salvamente, sin ningún percance, sin peligro, sin ningún problema |
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 safely come from?
From Middle English savely; equivalent to safe + -ly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).