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PlainSpell

silly

sil·ly/ˈsɪl.i/adjective, adverb, noun

silly is spelled S-I-L-L-Y: 5 letters and 2 syllables (sil·ly). It appears 25 times per million words in written English, the 3,683rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, silly means “Laughable or amusing through foolishness or a foolish appearance” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in silly?

Letters5: S-I-L-L-Y
Syllables2: sil·ly
In writing25 times per million words; the 3,683rd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is silly?

Silly appears 25 times per million words in written English, the 3,683rd 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 silly?

  • /ˈsɪl.i/

Silly has 2 syllables, split sil·ly in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-silly.ogg, En-au-silly.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with silly?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as silly.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: silyl.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of silly

  • sillier comparative
  • silliest superlative
  • sely
  • seely
  • sillies plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does silly mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Laughable or amusing through foolishness or a foolish appearance.

    They were laughing at a silly joke.

  2. 2

    Absurdly large.

    He cannot achieve celebrity by covering himself with diamonds... or by giving a silly price for a hack.

  3. 3

    ScotlandobsoleteGood; pious.

    The sylyman lay and herde, / And hys wyf answerd.

  4. 4

    ScotlandobsoleteHoly.

    ... thrie Saturdayes befor Lambas and thrie efter called the six silie Saturdayes.

  5. 5

    ScotlandrarePitiful, inspiring compassion, particularly

    The fire raging upon the silly Carcase.

  6. 6

    ScotlandrareInnocent; suffering undeservedly, especially as an epithet of lambs and sheep.

    There is no best in þe word, I wene... / That suffuris halfe so myche tene / As doth þe sylly wat.

  7. 7

    ScotlandrareHelpless, defenseless.

    scared silly

  8. 8

    ScotlandrareInsignificant, worthless, (chiefly Scotland) especially with regard to land quality.

adverb

  1. 1

    colloquialSillily: in a silly manner.

noun

  1. 1

    colloquialA silly person.

    While they, poor sillies, bid good night, O' love an' bogles eerie.

  2. 2

    A term of address.

    ‘Come on, silly,’ said Nannie.

  3. 3

    colloquialA mistake.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Silly in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchsot, insensé, idiot, bête, fou, stupide (foolish, showing a lack of good sense and wisdom)
Germandoof, dumm, albern (foolish, showing a lack of good sense and wisdom), Dummerchen (silly person)
Portuguesebobo, tolo, ingénuo (foolish, showing a lack of good sense and wisdom), boba (silly person), irresponsável, infantil (irresponsible, showing irresponsible behaviors)
Spanishbobo, tonto, niñito, lelo (foolish, showing a lack of good sense and wisdom), infantil (irresponsible, showing irresponsible behaviors), apayasado (playful, giggly)

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 silly come from?

From Middle English seely, sēlī, from Old English sǣliġ, ġesǣliġ (“lucky, fortunate”), from Proto-West Germanic *sālīg, from *sāli; equivalent to seel (“happiness, bliss”) + -y. Doublet of Seelie. The semantic evolution is “lucky” to “innocent” to “naive” to “foolish”. Compare the similar evolution of daft (originally meaning “accommodating”), and almost the reverse with nice (originally meaning “ignorant”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after silly