9-1-1
English
Etymology
The official form of the service's name in regulations and materials from the United States National Emergency Number Association and Federal Communication Commission.
Proper noun
- Alternative spelling of 911.
- 2015 January 16, Rick Paulas, “The Linguistics of Tragedy”, in Pacific Standard[1], archived from the original on 22 April 2025:
- 9-1-1 is a phone number everyone knows growing up; its mention is associated with fear and disaster. If you’re dialing 9-1-1, something’s wrong. Using it in conjunction with another terrible event, then, isn’t a huge leap. If the events took place on March 11 (like the public information phone number 3-1-1), perhaps the metonym wouldn’t be “3/11,” since it isn’t similarly visceral. (It’s worth noting that the Madrid train bombings, which took place on March 11, are known in Spain as “11-M” due to the country’s use of the date-before-month method of date formatting.)
(This connection between “9/11” and 9-1-1 is made evident in the story of its initial usage.
Noun
9-1-1 (countable and uncountable, plural 9-1-1s)
- (uncommon) Alternative spelling of 911.
Verb
9-1-1
- (rare) Alternative spelling of 911.
French
Proper noun
Spanish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˌnwebe ˌuno ˈuno/ [ˌnwe.β̞e ˌu.no ˈu.no]
- Syllabification: 9-1-1