Link Centre Dictionary

epenthesis

epent·he·sis

UK/ɪˈpɛn.θə.sɪs/ uncommon

noun

1.

the insertion of a vowel or consonant into a word to make its pronunciation easier

  • “the insertion of a vowel in the plural of the word”
  • “is epenthesis”

Origin

Middle of 16th century: via Late Latin, from Ancient Greek ἐπένθεσις (epénthesis), from ἐπεντίθημι (epentíthēmi, “to insert”), from ἐπί (epí) + ἐντίθημι (entíthēmi, “to put in”), from ἐν (en, “in”) + τίθημι (títhēmi, “to put, place”).

Related words

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.