Inform

How to spell inform

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce inform

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does inform mean?

1. verbTo give someone facts or knowledge about something.

Inform in a sentence

• The bank will inform customers of any change to their account terms.

• Please inform the office if your travel plans change.

Where does inform come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word inform comes from the Latin informare, which literally meant 'to give form to' or 'to shape', built from the prefix in- meaning 'into' and forma meaning 'shape' or 'mould'. In classical and medieval Latin the verb stretched from the physical act of shaping something to the mental act of shaping a person's mind, that is, instructing or training them. English took it up through Old French enformer in the 1300s, originally with the sense of forming the character or teaching, before it settled on the modern meaning of passing along facts or knowledge. The same forma root is visible in everyday relatives such as 'form', 'formal' and 'transform', which makes the spelling easy to recall: it is simply in plus form. Because the word keeps that clean root intact, it is rarely misspelled by fluent adults.

How the word is built

• in- (into)
• form (shape, mould)
• verb sense 'to give shape to the mind, to instruct'