How to spell prophesy

hear itproph·e·sy/'prɑfɪ,saɪ/verbAcademic

What it means: To predict what will happen in the future.

In a sentence: The wise owl can prophesy when it will rain.

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear. Often misspelled as prophesize or prophecy.

Same family: prophet, prophecy, prophetic, prophetically, sermon. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: “Prophesy” comes from Old French and Latin forms based on Greek “prophēteuein,” meaning “to speak for a god, to foretell.” In older English, “prophesy” was closely tied to public religious speaking, which is why it can mean giving a sermon or serious religious message.

Patterns it uses: The unstressed vowel (schwa)

Try spelling it

You will hear the word and a sentence. Type it and press Enter. Then four more words from the same level, so you know where you stand.

Words like this

prophecy · mathematics · maneuver · campus · characterization · ignorance · disastrous · cinema

Spelling.School is a spaced-repetition spelling practice: ten minutes a day, every word spoken aloud, every miss explained, and every word coming back just before you would forget it. Try five words without signing up.