fortify
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
7 characters
Language
English
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "fortify", 7-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "fortify" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "fortify" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
fortify is aEnglishverb. It means: To give power, strength, or vigour to (oneself or someone, or to something); to strengthen. Pronounced /ˈfɔːtɪfaɪ/. Often confused with forty and forties.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | fortify |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈfɔːtɪfaɪ/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #32,810 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for fortify is 7 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈfɔːtɪfaɪ/. Corpus data places it at rank #32,810 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 13 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 11 documented wrong-spelling variants for fortify, with forms such as "ffortify", "foritfy", and "forrtify". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "forty", "forties", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Late Middle English fortifien, fortfien (“to strengthen (a castle, etc.) from attack; to strengthen (an army, etc.); to strengthen (a person), aid, support; to reinforce, support; to improve; to increase the efficacy of”), from Old French fortifier (mo… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is fortify, spelled F-O-R-T-I-F-Y, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1To give power, strength, or vigour to (oneself or someone, or to something); to strengthen.
- 2To support (one's or someone's opinion, statement, etc.) by producing evidence, etc.; to confirm, to corroborate.
- 3To increase the nutritional value of (food) by adding ingredients, especially minerals or vitamins.
- 4To impart fortitude or moral strength to (someone or their determination, or something); to encourage.
- 5To make (something) defensible against attack by hostile forces.
- 6To make (something) structurally strong; to strengthen.
- 7To increase the defences of (an army, soldiers, etc.), or put (it or them) in a defensive position.
- 8To secure and strengthen (a place, its walls, etc.) by installing fortifications or other military works.
- 9To provide (a city, a fortress, an army, etc.) with equipment or soldiers.
- 10To add spirits to (wine) to increase the alcohol content.
- 11To install fortifications or other military works; also (sometimes figurative), to put up a defensive position.
- 12To become strong; to strengthen.
- 13To undergo, or cause to undergo, fortition.
Etymology
From Late Middle English fortifien, fortfien (“to strengthen (a castle, etc.) from attack; to strengthen (an army, etc.); to strengthen (a person), aid, support; to reinforce, support; to improve; to increase the efficacy of”), from Old French fortifier (modern French fortifier), from Late Latin fortificāre (“to strengthen, fortify”), from Latin fortis (“powerful, strong”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“to ascend, rise up; to be elevated or up high”) or *dʰerǵʰ- (“to be firm; robust, strong”)) + -ficō (suffix forming causative or factitive, or other verbs).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ffortify,foritfy,forrtify,fortfiy,fortiffy,fortifyy,fortiyf,forttify,fotrify,frotify,ofrtify
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for fortify
Misspelling Variants of "fortify"
Frequency rank: #32,810 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter F in our English index: