Skip to main content
PlainSpell

vitrify

/ˈvɪt.ɹɪˌfaɪ/verb

vitrify is a verb meaning “To convert into glass or a glass-like substance by heat and fusion” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled V-I-T-R-I-F-Y, and it appears about once in every 74 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data).

What does vitrify mean?

verb

  1. 1

    To convert into glass or a glass-like substance by heat and fusion.

  2. 2

    To be converted into glass, especially through heat.

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

How do you pronounce vitrify?

  • /ˈvɪt.ɹɪˌfaɪ/

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-vitrify.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of vitrify

  • vitrifies present, singular, he/she/it
  • vitrifying participle, present
  • vitrified participle, past

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

How common is vitrify?

Vitrify appears about once in every 74 million words in written English, the 272,462nd 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).

Vitrify in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchvitrer, vitrifier (convert into glassy substance)
Portuguesevitrificar (convert into glassy substance)
Spanishvitrificar (convert into glassy substance), vitrificarse (to be made into glass)

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 vitrify come from?

From Middle French vitrifier, from Latin vitrum (“glass”).

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