Signifies

How to spell signifies

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce signifies

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does signifies mean?

1. verbIndicates, represents, or has as its meaning (third person singular).

Signifies in a sentence

• A red light signifies that drivers must stop.

• Her silence signifies disapproval of the plan.

Where does signifies come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin significare, which literally meant 'to make a sign' or 'to indicate', built from signum, meaning a mark, token, or signal, joined to facere, meaning 'to make' or 'to do'. English took it through Old French signifier in the 1200s and 1300s, and from the start it carried the sense of standing for or pointing to a meaning. The same signum root sits inside a whole family of everyday words, including 'sign', 'signal', 'signature', and 'design', all of them turning on the idea of a mark that conveys something. The -fy ending here is the productive Latin 'make' element seen in 'magnify', 'clarify', and 'verify', and it explains the spelling trap: writers must remember the single g after the i and the i before -fies, not a doubled letter. When the verb takes a third person subject, the -y of signify shifts to -ies, giving us signifies.

How the word is built

• sign- (from Latin signum: mark, token)
• -ifi- (from facere: to make)
• -es (third person singular)