Story

How to spell story

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce story

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does story mean?

1. nounAn account of events, real or imagined, told for interest or information.
2. nounA single floor or level of a building (spelled 'storey' in British English).

Story in a sentence

• The reporter filed her story just before the deadline.

• The builders added one more story to the old warehouse.

• He read the children a bedtime story every night.

• They live on the top story of an old brick warehouse.

Where does story come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Story descends from the Latin historia, which meant an inquiry, an account, or a narrative of past events, itself borrowed from the Greek historia, 'a learning by inquiry'. The word reached English in the early 1200s through Anglo-French and Old French estorie, where it had already narrowed from grand history-writing toward any recounted tale. For centuries 'story' and 'history' were close cousins, and only later did English split them, keeping 'history' for the record of real events and 'story' for narratives both true and invented. The familiar building sense, a level or floor, appears to come from the same Latin word, possibly because medieval buildings carried rows of painted windows or sculptures depicting historical scenes on each level; British English spells that sense 'storey' while American English keeps 'story'. Because the everyday spelling is so regular, the main thing to remember is the single -ory rather than any doubled letter.

How the word is built

• stor- (from Latin historia: account, narrative)
• -y (noun ending)

British and American spelling

Story is the American spelling. British English spells it storey.