solly

adj

"solly" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“solly” is uncommon English (frequency #59,033 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#59,033
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Pronunciation spelling of sorry, mimicking an Asian accent.

Corpus desk

Index EN-solly · solly · English

solly · rank #59,033 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #59,033
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH Sobel

Nearest frequency peer: Sobel (-2 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “solly”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “solly” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for solly
PropertyValue
Headwordsolly
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters5
Frequency rank#59,033
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “solly” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).sollyfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “Sobel” (#59,031), “snowshoe” (#59,030), “soule” (#59,036). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “solly” is #59,033. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

solly is uncommon English at frequency #59,033 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Pronunciation spelling of sorry, mimicking an Asian accent.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for solly, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword 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: Pronunciation spelling of sorry. In many Eastern countries, people have difficulty with distinguishing the sounds of the letters l and r. See also Japanese speakers learning r and l The correct English form is solly, spelled S-O-L-L-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    Pronunciation spelling of sorry, mimicking an Asian accent.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how solly appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Some years back, when I was leaving China for England with young children, their faithful Chinese nurse kept on repeating to the little ones the following remarkable sentence, "My too muchey solly you go steamah; you no solly my."
  2. "I'm solly," he said; then he seemed to realize more clearly that the lady's honour had to be vindicated before all these "girls," and he repeated more loudly and without being asked, "I'm velly solly."

Etymology

Pronunciation spelling of sorry. In many Eastern countries, people have difficulty with distinguishing the sounds of the letters l and r. See also Japanese speakers learning r and l

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

How do you spell "solly"?
"solly" is spelled S-O-L-L-Y.
What does "solly" mean?
As an adjective, "solly" means: Pronunciation spelling of sorry, mimicking an Asian accent.
What is the origin of the word "solly"?
Pronunciation spelling of sorry. In many Eastern countries, people have difficulty with distinguishing the sounds of the letters l and r. See also Japanese speakers learning r and l See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "solly", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list