Quantify

How to spell quantify

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce quantify

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does quantify mean?

1. verbTo express or measure the amount of something as a definite number or quantity.

Quantify in a sentence

• The accountant struggled to quantify the true cost of the delays.

• It is hard to quantify the value of a good night's sleep.

Where does quantify come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin quantus, an interrogative adjective meaning 'how much' or 'how great', combined with the verb-forming element -fy, which traces back to the Latin facere, 'to make' or 'to do'. The medieval Latin verb quantificare literally meant 'to make into a quantity' or 'to determine the amount of'. English picked it up in the early nineteenth century, when scientists and logicians needed a precise term for assigning a measurable value to something. The same quantus root sits behind the everyday word 'quantity', which is why the two share their opening 'quant', and behind 'quantum', the physicist's word for a discrete measured amount. The spelling trap is the unstressed middle: the -ti- is pronounced like a soft 'tuh', so writers must remember it is spelled with 't' followed by 'i', not 'quanta-' or 'quanta-fy'.

How the word is built

• quant- (from Latin quantus: how much)
• -ify (verb suffix: to make or render)