terribly
ter·ri·bly/ˈtɛɹ.ɪ.bli/adverb
terribly is spelled T-E-R-R-I-B-L-Y, 3 syllables: ter·ri·bly. The wrong spelling people search most is terribley: about 20 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 17 of all searches for the word. Terribly is an adverb meaning “So as to cause terror or awe”.
How many letters and syllables are in terribly?
| Letters | 8: T-E-R-R-I-B-L-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: ter·ri·bly |
| In writing | 8.1 times per million words; the 8,146th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, terribley, about 20 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell terribly?
Terribly is spelled T-E-R-R-I-B-L-Y. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 17 of the searches for terribly in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is terribly?
Terribly appears 8.1 times per million words in written English, the 8,146th 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 terribly?
- /ˈtɛɹ.ɪ.bli/
Terribly has 3 syllables, split ter·ri·bly in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-terribly.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of terribly
- more terribly comparative
- most terribly superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does terribly mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
datedSo as to cause terror or awe.
The lion roared terribly.
- 2
Very; extremely.
He's terribly busy and you really shouldn't bother him.
- 3
Very badly.
She took part in the karaoke, but sang terribly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Terribly in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | terriblement |
| German | furchtbar |
| Spanish | rematadamente |
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 terribly come from?
Inherited from Middle English terribli. By surface analysis, terrible + -ly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).