memory
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
6 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "memory", 6-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 "memory" 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 "memory" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
memory is aEnglishnoun. It means: The ability of the brain to record information or impressions with the facility of recalling them later, usually at will. Pronounced /ˈmɛm.ə.ɹi/. It ranks #1,641 in English word frequency. Often confused with merry and memo.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | memory |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈmɛm.ə.ɹi/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #1,641 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for memory is 6 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈmɛm.ə.ɹi/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,641 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 9 documented wrong-spelling variants for memory, with forms such as "emmory", "memmory", and "memorry". 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 5 confusable-pair relationships, "merry", "memo", "melody", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Anglo-Norman memorie, Old French memoire etc., from Latin memoria (“the faculty of remembering, remembrance, memory, a historical account”), from memor (“mindful, remembering”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- (to remember), related to Ancient Greek … 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 memory, spelled M-E-M-O-R-Y, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1The ability of the brain to record information or impressions with the facility of recalling them later, usually at will.
- 2A record of a thing or an event stored and available for later use by the organism.
- 3The part of a computer that stores variable executable code or data (RAM) or unalterable executable code or default data (ROM).
- 4The time within which past events can be or are remembered.
- 5Which returns to its original shape when heated
- 6A memorial.
- 7Synonym of pelmanism (“memory card game”).
- 8A term of venery for a social group of elephants, normally called a herd.
Etymology
From Anglo-Norman memorie, Old French memoire etc., from Latin memoria (“the faculty of remembering, remembrance, memory, a historical account”), from memor (“mindful, remembering”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- (to remember), related to Ancient Greek μνήμη (mnḗmē, “memory”) μέρμερος (mérmeros, “anxious”), μέριμνα (mérimna, “care, thought”), Old English ġemimor (“mindful, remembering”). More at mimmer. Doublet of memoir and memoria. Displaced native Old English ġemynd, which took on a different meaning as modern mind.
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: emmory,memmory,memorry,memoryy,memoyr,memroy,meomry,mmemory,mmeory
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for memory
Misspelling Variants of "memory"
Frequency rank: #1,641 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter M in our English index: