Plainly

How to spell plainly

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce plainly

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does plainly mean?

1. adverbIn a way that is clear, simple, or easy to perceive or understand.

Plainly in a sentence

• The instructions were written so plainly that nobody had questions.

• She spoke plainly about the budget so the whole team understood.

Where does plainly come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is built on the adjective 'plain', which English borrowed from Old French 'plain' in the 1200s, ultimately from the Latin 'planus', meaning 'flat' or 'level'. The original sense of a smooth, even surface broadened over time into the figurative ideas of something clear, simple, and easy to understand, and from there into 'unadorned' or 'frank'. Adding the native English adverb ending '-ly' produced 'plainly', meaning in a clear or obvious way. The same Latin 'planus' also gives us 'plane', 'plain' (the flat landscape), and even 'explain', which literally meant to make something flat or smooth out a difficulty. The spelling trap lives in that shared ancestry: 'plain' and 'plane' sound identical, so writers must remember that the clear, simple sense always keeps the '-ai-' spelling.

How the word is built

• plain (clear, flat, simple)
• -ly (adverb suffix)