Firstly

Definition: Firstly

Firstly

Adverb

1. Before anything else; "first we must consider the garter snake".

Date "firstly" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references)

Domain	Definitions
Tips from 1870	Usage: Firstly. First is an adverb as well as an adjective. We should, therefore, say first, secondly, thirdly, and not firstly, secondly, etc. Source: Slips of Speech.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Synonyms: Firstly

Synonyms: first (adv), first of all (adv), first off (adv), foremost (adv). (additional references)

Crosswords: Firstly

Specialty definitions using "firstly": Firstly ♦ LOOPN ♦ master drum. (references)

Domain

Usage

Screenplays

Firstly, I am not a 'bloody little Frog! (Poirot; writing credit: Clive Exton; Anthony Horowitz)

Firstly, my temporary manservant, Antony. (The 10th Kingdom; writing credit: Simon Moore)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Author	Quotation
Thomas Arnold	What we must look for here is, firstly, religious and moral principles; secondly, gentlemanly conduct; thirdly, intellectual ability.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Business		Firstly, Spanish architectural/ engineering companies have the skills and knowledge necessary to carry out most of the major airport infrastructure projects that will take place in the coming decade. (references)
Economic History	Romania	Firstly, they establish themselves in Romania so that they are able to analyze the local situation and develop the most effective corporate strategy. (references)
	Canada	Firstly, a strong demand from end-users for packaging products is expected to increase slightly faster than the economy and substitution to plastics from conventional materials continues. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

"Firstly" is generally used as an adverb (general) -- approximately 98.55% of the time. "Firstly" is used about 1,719 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Adverb (general)	98.55%	1,694	4,951
Noun (proper)	1.45%	25	69,787
Total	100.00%	1,719	N/A

Hypenated Usage
	Ending with "firstly": groups-firstly.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "firstly"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Afrikaan		eers (at, at some time, ever, first, first of all, sometime). (various references)

Albanian		së pari (at first, first, first of all, imprimis). (various references)

Arabic		‏في المقام الأول (foremost, mostly, primarily), ‏أولا (first, foremost, in the first instance, originally, primarily, uppermost). (various references)

Bulgarian		най-напред (at first, first, first of all, start with), на първо място (imprimis, primarily, uppermost), първо (first, foremost, imprimis). (various references)

Chinese		首先 (FIRST). (various references)

Czech		za prvé (in the first place). (various references)

Danish		først (first, first of all). (various references)

Dutch		ten eerste (first, first of all), eerst (first, first of all), allereerst (first, first of all). (various references)

Esperanto		unue (first, first of all). (various references)

Faeroese		í fyrsta lagi (first, first of all). (various references)

Finnish		ensinnäkin (first, for one thing, in the first place, originally, to begin with), ensinnä (first, for one thing, in the first place, originally, to begin with), ensiksi (first, primarily). (various references)

French		d'abord (at first, first, first of all). (various references)

Frisian		earst (first, first of all). (various references)

German		erstens (first, first of all, in the first place). (various references)

Greek		πρώτα (first), πρώτο. (various references)

Hebrew		קו�"ם כל (first, first of all), ראשון (first, former, principal, superior, top). (various references)

Hungarian		elsõsorban (in the first instance, primarily), eleinte (at first, first, first of all, initially), elõször (at first, at first hand, first, in the first place). (various references)

Italian		in primo luogo (first, first of all), dapprima (at, at first, at the outset, first, first of all, in the beginning), prima (at first, at the outset, back, before, beforehand, earlier, first, first night, first of all, formerly, in advance, once, premiere, previously, sooner). (various references)

Manx		'sy chied ynnyd (in the first place), hoshiaght (chiefly). (various references)

Norwegian		for det første. (various references)

Pig Latin		irstlyfay

Polish		po pierwsze (first, first of all), najpierw (first, first of all). (various references)

Portuguese		primícias, em primeiro lugar (first time, foremost, imprimis, primarily, uppermost). (various references)

Romanian		în primul rând (chiefly, essentially, first, first and foremost, in the first flight, in the first instance, in the first place, originally, principally, to begin with, to start with). (various references)

Russian		во-первых (imprimis, in the first place, to begin with). (various references)

Scottish		air thoiseach (first, first of all). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		prvo (first, first: at first, foremost, imprimis, primely). (various references)

Spanish		primeramente (at first, first, first of all, foremost), primero (Aa, capital, chief, early, first, first of all, foremost, former, front, head, immediate, initial, leader, leading, low, lower, maiden, opening, original, outermost, overriding, premier, primary, prime, top). (various references)

Swedish		först (at first, first, initially, only). (various references)

Tagalog		úna (first, first of all). (various references)

Turkish		ilkin, ilk olarak (at first, early, first, first of all, first time, for starters, in first place, in the first instance, initially, primarily), birinci olarak, önce (above, afore, ago, ante, ante-, back, before, early, ere, first, in advance, pre-, prior, prior to, pro-). (various references)

Ukranian		по-перше (to begin with). (various references)

Vietnamese		thứ nhất, đầu tiên l� . (various references)

Welsh		cyntaf (first). (various references)

Yucatec		yaaxil (first, first of all). (various references)

Zulu		ukuqala (first, first of all). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Misspellings
	"Firstly" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: fastly, Ferstl, Firatli. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "firstly" (pronounced fer"stlē)
4	-s t l ē	costly, dishonestly, earnestly, ghastly, ghostly, honestly, justly, lastly, manifestly, modestly, mostly, priestly, robustly, steadfastly, unjustly, vastly.
3	-t l ē	abruptly, absolutely, abundantly, accidently, accurately, acutely, adamantly, adequately, adroitly, affectionately, alternately, apparently, appropriately, approximately, aptly, ardently, arrogantly, astutely, blatantly, bluntly, brightly, brilliantly, coherently, commensurately, compassionately, competently, complacently, completely, concomitantly, concretely, concurrently, confidently, consequently, consistently, constantly, conveniently, correctly, courtly, covertly, currently, curtly, decently, defiantly, definitely, deftly, deliberately, delicately, desperately, devoutly, differently, difficultly, diligently, directly, discreetly, dispassionately, disproportionately, distinctly, efficiently, elaborately, elegantly, eloquently, eminently, evidently, exactly, excellently, expertly, explicitly, exquisitely, extravagantly, exultantly, faintly, fervently, flagrantly, flamboyantly, flatly, fluently, forthrightly, fortnightly, fortunately, fraudulently, frequently, gently, greatly, hesitantly, hotly, illicitly, immaculately, immediately, imminently, impatiently, imperfectly, implicitly, importantly, imprudently, inaccurately, inadequately, inadvertently, inappropriately, incessantly, incoherently, incompetently, incorrectly, indefinitely, independently, indignantly, indirectly, indiscriminately, inefficiently, ineptly, infinitely, infrequently, inherently, innately, innocently, inordinately, insistently, instantly, insufficiently, intelligently, intently, intermittently, intimately, intricately, jointly, knightly, lately, legitimately, leniently, lightly, magnificently, militantly, minutely, moderately, motley, neatly, negligently, nightly, nonchalantly, obediently, overtly, partly, passionately, patently, patiently, perfectly, permanently, persistently, pleasantly, poignantly, politely, portly, predominantly, presently, privately, prominently, promptly, proportionately, prudently, pungently, quaintly, quietly, raptly, recently, reluctantly, remotely, resolutely, reverently, rightly, saintly, secretly, separately, shortly, significantly, silently, slightly, smartly, softly, sprightly, stately, stoutly, strictly, stridently, stringently, subsequently, succinctly, sufficiently, sweetly, swiftly, tacitly, tightly, transparently, triumphantly, ultimately, unfortunately, unpleasantly, unsightly, urgently, valiantly, vehemently, violently, virulently, Whitely.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "f-i-l-r-s-t-y"
	-1 letter: flirts, flirty, lyrist.
	-2 letters: first, fitly, flirt, flits, frits, lifts, rifts, silty, styli, tirls.
	-3 letters: fils, firs, fist, fits, flit, frit, lift, list, lits, rifs, rift, sift, silt, slit, stir, syli, tils, tirl.
	-4 letters: fil, fir, fit, fly, fry, ifs, its, lis, lit, rif, sir, sit, sly, sri, sty, til, tis, try.
	-5 letters: if, is.
	Words containing the letters "f-i-l-r-s-t-y"
	+1 letter: flytiers, frostily.
	+2 letters: floristry, styliform.
	+3 letters: tristfully.
	+4 letters: fractiously, frontolysis, fruitlessly, superfluity.
	+5 letters: farsightedly, forestaysail, fortuitously, sprightfully, thriftlessly.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.