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PlainSpell

ramify

/ˈɹæm.ɪ.faɪ/verb

ramify is a verb meaning “To divide into branches or subdivisions” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled R-A-M-I-F-Y and has 3 syllables, and it appears about once in every 66 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data).

What does ramify mean?

verb

  1. 1

    To divide into branches or subdivisions.

  2. 2

    To spread or diversify into multiple fields or categories.

    to ramify an art, subject, scheme

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

How do you pronounce ramify?

  • US /ˈɹæm.ɪ.faɪ/
  • US /ˈɹæm.ə.faɪ/

Ramify 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: En-us-ramify.ogg, En-au-ramify.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of ramify

  • ramifies present, singular, he/she/it
  • ramifying participle, present
  • ramified participle, past

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

How common is ramify?

Ramify appears about once in every 66 million words in written English, the 255,765th 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).

Ramify in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Germanramifizieren, verzweigen, verästeln (to divide into branches)
Portugueseramificar (to divide into branches)
Spanishramificar (to divide into branches), diversificar ((figuratively) to spread or diversify into…)

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 ramify come from?

Borrowed from Middle French ramifier, from Medieval Latin ramificō (“to branch, ramify”), from Latin rāmus (“a branch”) + -ficō (causative suffix).

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