Replied

How to spell replied

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce replied

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does replied mean?

1. verbAnswered or responded to someone, in speech or in writing.

Replied in a sentence

• She replied to the email within an hour of receiving it.

• When asked about the delay, the manager replied that parts were on order.

Where does replied come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the past tense of 'reply', which came into English in the 1300s from the Old French verb 'replier', meaning 'to fold back' or 'to turn back'. That French word traced to the Latin 'replicare', built from 're-' meaning 'back' and 'plicare' meaning 'to fold', so the original sense was literally a folding or bending back, which shifted into the idea of turning an answer back to the person who spoke. The same 'plicare' root also gave English 'reply', 'replicate', 'pliable', and even 'ply', all carrying a hint of folding or bending. The spelling trap here is purely the inflection: the base verb ends in a consonant plus 'y', so the 'y' changes to 'i' before '-ed', giving 'replied' rather than the wrong 'replyed'. Once that rule is settled the word is regular and predictable.

How the word is built

• re- (back)
• ply (fold/turn, from Latin plicare)
• -ied (past tense suffix, with y changed to i)