9-1-1

See also: 911, 9・11, and 9/11

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

9-1-1

1. 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)

1. (uncommon) Alternative spelling of 911.

Verb

9-1-1

1. (rare) Alternative spelling of 911.

French

Proper noun

9-1-1 m

1. (Canada, US, telephony) 9-1-1

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌnwebe ˌuno ˈuno/ [ˌnwe.β̞e ˌu.no ˈu.no]
• Syllabification: 9-1-1

Proper noun

9-1-1 m

1. (US, Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, Philippines, Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, telephony) 9-1-1