Illegally

How to spell illegally

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce illegally

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does illegally mean?

1. adverbIn a way that breaks the law or is not permitted by law.

Illegally in a sentence

• The company was fined for illegally dumping waste into the river.

• He parked illegally outside the hospital entrance and was towed.

Where does illegally come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin noun lex, with the stem legis, meaning 'law', which gave rise to the adjective legalis, 'relating to the law'. By attaching the negative prefix in-, Latin and later Medieval Latin formed illegalis, 'not lawful', where the n of in- assimilated to the following l and became another l, producing the doubled ll that still trips writers up today. English took in 'illegal' through French and Latin influence in the 1600s, and the adverb 'illegally' was built by stacking the native English adverb ending -ly on top. The same lex root sits inside everyday relatives like 'legal', 'legislate', 'legitimate' and even 'loyal', all carrying the idea of law and rule. The spelling trap is purely about counting letters: two l's at the start from the assimilated prefix, and two l's at the join where the -al adjective meets the -ly ending.

How the word is built

• il- (a form of in-, meaning 'not')
• leg (from lex, legis: law)
• -al (adjective suffix)
• -ly (adverb suffix)