petrify
/ˈpɛ.tɹəˌfaɪ/
"petrify" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“petrify” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To turn to stone: to harden organic matter by permeating with water and depositing dissolved minerals.
Corpus desk
Index EN-petrify · petrify · English
petrify · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "P" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | petrify |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈpɛ.tɹəˌfaɪ/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “petrify” in English
Rare enough to double-check
petrify is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed /ˈpɛ.tɹəˌfaɪ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 6 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for petrify in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle French pétrifier, from Medieval Latin petrificāre, from Latin petra (“rock”), from Ancient Greek πέτρα (pétra, “rock”) + -ficāre, from facere (“do, make”), equivalent to petro- + -ify. The correct English form is petrify, spelled P-E-T-R-I-F-Y.
Definition
- 1To turn to stone: to harden organic matter by permeating with water and depositing dissolved minerals.
- 2To produce rigidity akin to stone.
- 3To immobilize with fright.
- 4To become stone, or of a stony hardness, as organic matter by calcareous deposits.
- 5To become stony, callous, or obdurate.
- 6To make callous or obdurate; to stupefy; to paralyze; to transform; as by petrification.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how petrify appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
a river that petrifies any sort of wood or leaves
Like Niobe we marble grow, / And petrify with grief.
Etymology
From Middle French pétrifier, from Medieval Latin petrificāre, from Latin petra (“rock”), from Ancient Greek πέτρα (pétra, “rock”) + -ficāre, from facere (“do, make”), equivalent to petro- + -ify.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.