Famously

How to spell famously

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce famously

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does famously mean?

1. adverbIn a way that is widely known or much talked about.
2. adverbExtremely well; splendidly (informal).

Famously in a sentence

• The bridge is famously difficult to photograph in poor light.

• The two new colleagues got on famously from their very first meeting.

• The recipe is famously hard to get right on the first attempt.

• The negotiations went famously and the deal closed early.

Where does famously come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This adverb traces back to the Latin noun fama, which meant 'report', 'rumour', or 'public reputation', and which itself grew from the verb fari, 'to speak'. The idea was simply the talk that spreads about a person, so fama could describe glory or notoriety equally. English took fame through Old French in the 1200s, then built the adjective 'famous' (well talked about) and finally the adverb 'famously'. The newer informal sense meaning 'very well' or 'splendidly', as in two people getting on famously, developed in English around the 1700s from the notion of doing something in a way worth talking about. The same fama root still echoes in 'defame' and 'infamous', and the silent flow from fame to fam- (with the long vowel shortening) is the main thing a writer has to remember when spelling it.

How the word is built

• fam- (from Latin fama: report, reputation)
• -ous (adjective suffix: full of)
• -ly (adverb suffix)