notify
/ˈnoʊtɪfaɪ/verb
notify is spelled N-O-T-I-F-Y: 6 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 5.4 times per million words in written English, the 10,680th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, notify means “To give (someone) notice (of some event)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in notify?
| Letters | 6: N-O-T-I-F-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 5.4 times per million words; the 10,680th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is notify?
Notify appears 5.4 times per million words in written English, the 10,680th 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 notify?
- US /ˈnoʊtɪfaɪ/
Notify has 3 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-notify.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of notify
- notifies present, singular, he/she/it
- notifying participle, present
- notified participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does notify mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To give (someone) notice (of some event).
The dispatcher immediately notified the volunteer fire department of the emergency call.
- 2
obsoleteTo make (something) known.
- 3
obsoleteTo make note of (something).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate notify?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of notify: ntfy.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Notify in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense (transitive) to give (someone) notice of (something):
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | notifier |
| German | mitteilen, benachrichtigen |
| Portuguese | notificar, informar |
| Spanish | notificar |
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 notify come from?
From Middle English notifien, a borrowing from Old French notifier, notefiier.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).