# sully

> English word · Verb · IPA /ˈsʌli/ · frequency rank #25,227

## Definitions
1. To soil or stain; to dirty.
2. To corrupt or damage.
3. To become soiled or tarnished.

## Etymology
From Middle English sulen, sulien (“to become dirty; to defile, pollute, taint”), from Old English sylian (“to soil, pollute; to sully”), from Proto-West Germanic *sulwōn, *sulwijan (“to make dirty; to sully”), from Proto-Indo-European *sūl- (“thick liquid, muck”), perhaps conflated partially with Old French souillier (“to soil”) (modern French souiller) from the same Germanic source. The word is cognate with Danish søle (“to sully”), West Flemish seulewen (“to sully”) (Middle Dutch soluwen (“to sully”)), German sühlen (“to sully”), Old Saxon sulian (“to sully”), Swedish söla (“to sully”). Also compare Middle English sulpen (“to defile, pollute”), Old English solian (“to soil, become defiled, make or become foul”), and see more at soil.

## Easily confused with
- **SUNY** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sully-vs-suny)
- **Sulu** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sully-vs-sulu)
- **sunny** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sully-vs-sunny)
- **surly** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sully-vs-surly)
- **surry** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sully-vs-surry)
- **supply** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sully-vs-supply)
- **surely** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sully-vs-surely)
- **sultry** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sully-vs-sultry)
- **sly** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sly-vs-sully)
- **Sul** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sul-vs-sully)
- **sell** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sell-vs-sully)
- **slay** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/slay-vs-sully)
- **sill** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sill-vs-sully)
- **silly** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silly-vs-sully)
- **sadly** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sadly-vs-sully)
- **sells** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sells-vs-sully)
- **skull** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skull-vs-sully)
- **sally** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sally-vs-sully)
- **salty** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/salty-vs-sully)
- **silky** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silky-vs-sully)

## Common misspellings (6)
`sluly`, `ssully`, `sullyy`, `suly`, `sulyl`, `uslly`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/sully