Memo

How to spell memo

4 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce memo

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does memo mean?

1. nounA short written note or message, usually circulated within an organisation to inform or remind.

Memo in a sentence

• The manager sent a brief memo about the new parking rules.

• Each memo was filed in the project folder for reference.

Where does memo come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Memo is a clipped, informal shortening of memorandum, which English took directly from the Latin memorandum, meaning literally 'something to be remembered' or 'a thing fit to be recalled'. That noun is the neuter gerundive of the verb memorare, 'to bring to mind' or 'to remind', which in turn rests on memor, meaning 'mindful' or 'remembering'. English used the full word memorandum from the 1400s for a note written as a reminder, especially in business and law. By the early twentieth century the brisk office abbreviation memo had taken hold for the short internal notes that circulate in workplaces. The same memor root survives in relatives such as memory, memorial, and commemorate, all of them turning on the idea of keeping something in mind.

How the word is built

• shortened from memorandum: from Latin memorandum (something to be remembered), from memorare (to call to mind)