How do you pronounce hopefully?

The recorded pronunciation is /ˈhoʊp.fə.li/.

hopefully

/ˈhoʊp.fə.li/

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.56 in modern English

Scrabble Score

Letters

Syllables

Unique Chars

adv

adv

It is hoped that; I hope; we hope.

"‘In fifteen minutes I will be at the carpark, sitting hopefully inside a puce Reliant Scimitar.’"
"Hopefully, my father will arrive in time for the show."
"She was buried with her mom and hopefully they are together now."

Etymology tree Proto-West Germanic *tōhopōnder. Old English tōhopa Old English hopa Middle English hope English hope Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós Proto-Germanic *fullaz Proto-Germanic *-fullaz Old English -ful Middle English -ful English -ful English hopeful Proto-Indo-European *leyg-der. Proto-Germanic *līkąder. Proto-Germanic *-līkaz Proto-Germanic *-ê Proto-Germanic *-līkê Proto-West Germanic *-līkē Old English -līċe Middle English -ly English -ly English hopefully From hopeful + -ly. The use as a sentence adverb first gained currency in the United States and has been explained as a possible calque of German hoffentlich.

more hopefully (comparative) most hopefully (superlative)

it is better to travel hopefully than to arrive

fingers crossed

Questions

How to pronounce hopefully

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “hopefully”.

Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈhoʊp.fə.li/) so you know which sounds to aim for.

Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “hopefully”.

Repeat and practice — Say “hopefully” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.