CHAPTER 32

Using efy and ify

The endings efy and ify are not a difficult problem because there are only three anomalies. The verb

suffix fy means “to make or to become,” and there are about one hundred words that use this suffix,
which comes from the Latin facere, meaning “to make.” Solidify, for example, means “to make solid.”

Spelling rule #1: The ending ify is used with almost all the words in this group:

(^) Spelling rule #2: The ending efy is used with only three words and their derivatives:
(^) Until quite recently, liquify and rarify were spelled with an e. Three efy words come from Latin roots
that contain the letter e: liquere, putrere, and stupere, but rarify comes from rarus, which does not
contain an e. The modern spelling is therefore correct. In time the other words will follow suit and
exchange the e for an i.
Naturally, there are many other words that end in fy but do not contain this ify suffix. They often have
the long e sound, but there are other vowel sounds, too: