qualify
qual·i·fy/ˈkwɑ.lɪ.faɪ/verb, noun
qualify is spelled Q-U-A-L-I-F-Y: 7 letters and 3 syllables (qual·i·fy). It appears 15 times per million words in written English, the 5,206th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, qualify means “To describe or characterize something by listing its qualities” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in qualify?
| Letters | 7: Q-U-A-L-I-F-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: qual·i·fy |
| In writing | 15 times per million words; the 5,206th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is qualify?
Qualify appears 15 times per million words in written English, the 5,206th 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 qualify?
- UK /ˈkwɒl.ɪ.faɪ/
- US /ˈkwɑ.lɪ.faɪ/
- US /ˈkwɑ.lə.faɪ/
Qualify has 3 syllables, split qual·i·fy in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-qualify.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of qualify
- qualifies present, singular, he/she/it
- qualifying participle, present
- qualified participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does qualify mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To describe or characterize something by listing its qualities.
- 2
To successfully fall under some category or description by meeting requisite conditions.
- 3
To make someone competent or eligible for some position or task.
- 4
To become competent or eligible for some position or task.
- 5
To certify or license someone for something.
- 6
To modify, limit, restrict or moderate something; especially to add conditions or requirements for an assertion to be true.
- 7
archaicTo mitigate, alleviate (something); to make less disagreeable.
- 8
To compete successfully in some stage of a competition and become eligible for the next stage.
noun
- 1
An instance of throwing and catching each prop at least twice.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Qualify in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | caractériser, qualifier, définir , se qualifier |
| Spanish | calificar , capacitar, poder obtener, tener derecho a, darle derecho a, expertizar |
| German | qualifizieren, sich qualifizieren |
| Portuguese | classificar, qualificar |
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 qualify come from?
Borrowed from Middle French qualifier (“to qualify”). Equivalent to quality + -fy.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).