directory
/dɪˈɹɛktəɹi/noun, adjective
directory is spelled D-I-R-E-C-T-O-R-Y. The wrong spelling people search most is directoty: about 20 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 588 of all searches for the word. Directory is a noun meaning “A list of names, addresses etc, of specific classes of people or organizations, often in alphabetical order…”. The plural of directory is directories.
How many letters and syllables are in directory?
| Letters | 9: D-I-R-E-C-T-O-R-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 8.5 times per million words; the 7,910th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, directoty, about 20 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell directory?
Directory is spelled D-I-R-E-C-T-O-R-Y. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 579 of the searches for directory in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is directory?
Directory appears 8.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,910th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce directory?
- UK /dɪˈɹɛktəɹi/
- UK /daɪˈɹɛktəɹi/
Directory has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-directory.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of directory
- directories plural
- more directory comparative
- most directory superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does directory mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A list of names, addresses etc, of specific classes of people or organizations, often in alphabetical order or in some classification.
look up an address in the directory
- 2
A structured listing of the names and characteristics of the files on a storage device.
- 3
A virtual container in a computer's file system, in which files and other directories may be stored. The files and subdirectories in a directory are usually related.
- 4
A form of government with a collegial executive whose members jointly exercise power; the executive of such a government.
adjective
- 1
Containing directions; instructing; directorial.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate directory?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of directory: dir.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Directory in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | annuaire , dossier, répertoire , directoire |
| German | Verzeichnis , Ordner , Direktorium |
| Portuguese | diretório, diretoria |
| Spanish | directorio |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does directory come from?
From Middle English directorie, dyrectorye, from Medieval Latin dīrēctōrium. By surface analysis, direct + -ory. Doublet of directorium. The political sense is a semantic loan from French directoire.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).