sekali
/ˈs(ə)kɑli/adverb
sekali is spelled S-E-K-A-L-I: 6 letters. It appears about once in every 81 million words in written English, the 286,585th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adverb, sekali means “What if, lest (something problematic or unanticipated happens)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in sekali?
| Letters | 6: S-E-K-A-L-I |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 81 million words; the 286,585th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is sekali?
Sekali appears about once in every 81 million words in written English, the 286,585th 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 sekali?
- /ˈs(ə)kɑli/
- [ˈska(ː)˧.li˦]
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Persent101-sekali.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of sekali
- sakali
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sekali mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
What if, lest (something problematic or unanticipated happens)
- 2
Suddenly and unexpectedly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does sekali come from?
Semantic shift from Malay sekali (“once”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).