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PlainSpell

memory

mem·o·ry/ˈmɛm.ə.ɹi/noun

memory is spelled M-E-M-O-R-Y: 6 letters and 3 syllables (mem·o·ry). It appears 65 times per million words in written English, the 1,636th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, memory means “The ability of the brain to record information or impressions with the facility of recalling them later, usually at will” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of memory is memories.

How many letters and syllables are in memory?

Letters6: M-E-M-O-R-Y
Syllables3: mem·o·ry
In writing65 times per million words; the 1,636th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is memory?

Memory appears 65 times per million words in written English, the 1,636th 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 memory?

  • US /ˈmɛm.ə.ɹi/
  • US /ˈmɛm.ɹi/
  • /ˈmɪm.ə.ɹi/

Memory has 3 syllables, split mem·o·ry in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-memory.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with memory?

One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as memory from its last stressed vowel (/ɛməɹi/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of memory

  • memories plural
  • memorie

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does memory mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The ability of the brain to record information or impressions with the facility of recalling them later, usually at will.

    Memory is a facility common to all animals.

  2. 2

    A record of a thing or an event stored and available for later use by an organism.

    I have no memory of that event.

  3. 3

    The part of a computer that stores variable executable code or data (RAM) or unalterable executable code or default data (ROM).

    This data passes from the CPU to the memory.

  4. 4

    The time within which past events can be or are remembered.

    in recent memory

  5. 5

    Of a material, which returns to its original shape when heated.

    memory metal

  6. 6

    obsoleteA memorial.

  7. 7

    Synonym of pelmanism (“memory card game”).

  8. 8

    rareA term of venery for a social group of elephants, normally called a herd.

noun

as Memory
  1. 1

    Alternative letter-case form of memory (“pelmanism”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate memory?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of memory: mem.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Memory in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchmémoire (ability to recall), souvenir (stored record)
GermanGedächtnis (ability to recall), Erinnerung (stored record), Speicher (RAM or ROM)
Portuguesememória (ability to recall), lembrança, recordação (stored record)
Spanishmemoria (ability to recall), recuerdo (stored record)

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 memory come from?

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 myne (whence English min) and Old English ġemynd, which took on a different meaning as modern mind.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after memory