The accessibility been using the verb “accessify” in recent months and a question that has come up is – “Is accessify a word?” My answer is yes, and most linguists would agree. Here’s why:
It Sounds Like English
With very rare exceptions, a word can enter a language only if follows the rules for permissible combinations of consonants and vowels. For instance “accessify” and “access” follow the rules, but something like “bcess” or “bccefmgi” would not.
It Uses an English Word Formation Rule
The suffix -ify is a suffix used to make new verbs out of nouns like accessibility or mystery (mystify). acid (acidify) and even class (classify). The suffix -ify isn’t the only option. Another more common suffix is -(r)ize, but “accessorize” is too ambiguous to be useful.
It’s on Google!
The previous two characteristics apply to possible words, but the question “Is accessify a word?” is also asking if it’s used, preferably by someone who knows about accessibility. And the Google search results confirm that people are using “accessify” quite a bit, especially the people at accessify.comand Accessify Forum.
Still the Doubt…
And yet…this word is not accepted everywhere. For instance, it is not yet listed in the Oxford English Dictionary. The word “accessify” is still working its way through social channels.
I have faith in it though. If there’s one thing accessibility can use it’s a verb that explains the process of optimizing documents and tools for accessibility concisely and clearly.