APHESIS

aphesis

(noun) the gradual disappearance of an initial (usually unstressed) vowel or syllable as in ‘squire’ for ‘esquire’

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Noun

aphesis (countable and uncountable, plural apheses)

(linguistics, prosody) The loss of the initial unstressed vowel of a word.

Synonyms

• procope

Antonyms

• prothesis (addition of the beginning of a word)

• apocope (omission at the end of a word)

Hypernyms

• apheresis

Anagrams

• saphies

Source: Wiktionary

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Aph"e*sis, n. Etym: [Gr.

Definition: The loss of a short unaccented vowel at the beginning of a word; -- the result of a phonetic process; as, squire for esquire. New Eng. Dict.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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