seemly
/ˈsiːmli/
"seemly" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“seemly” is an uncommon English word, ranked #90,961 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #90,961
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Of behavior, appropriate; suited to the occasion or purpose; becoming.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | seemly |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈsiːmli/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #90,961 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “seemly” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for seemly is 6 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsiːmli/. Corpus data places it at rank #90,961 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Of behavior, appropriate; suited to the occasion or purpose; becoming.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for seemly, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English semly, semely, semelich, from Old Norse sœmiligr (“seemly”); equivalent to seem + -ly. Cognate with Icelandic sæmilegur (“seemly, passable”), Danish sømmelig (“seemly”). The correct English form is seemly, spelled S-E-E-M-L-Y.
Definition
- 1Of behavior, appropriate; suited to the occasion or purpose; becoming.
Etymology
From Middle English semly, semely, semelich, from Old Norse sœmiligr (“seemly”); equivalent to seem + -ly. Cognate with Icelandic sæmilegur (“seemly, passable”), Danish sømmelig (“seemly”).
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “seemly”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-E-E-M-L-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsiːmli/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.