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Glite Dictionary
apheretic

apheretic

9.9
Describing a word that loses a sound or syllable at the start, like 'squire' from 'esquire'
  • adjective
  • /əˈfɛrɪtɪk/
  • Specialized
: aferético
  • The word 'squire' is an apheretic form of 'esquire'.

Examples

  • In linguistics, an apheretic form may simplify pronunciation.

  • She discussed several apheretic examples in her paper on English phonology.

  • In historical linguistics, apheretic changes are common in informal speech.

  • The term apheretic describes words that lose initial sounds.

  • In historical linguistics, apheretic changes often occur when words are spoken quickly.

  • The word 'fridge' is considered an apheretic variant of 'refrigerator'.

  • Many colloquial expressions contain apheretic alterations, making them unique to informal language.

Synonyms

aphaeretic
vsapheretic
  • Specialized
9.9

To drop the first sound or letter of a word, for example phone from telephone

is the same concept but written in an alternate spelling

Surface Forms

apheretic positive

Morphology

apheretic = apheresis (transparent) = apheresis + ic

The suffix '-ic' is commonly used to form adjectives meaning 'relating to' or 'characterized by'.

Etymology

The word apheretic comes from the Greek word aphaeresis, which means 'a taking away' and breaks into a- 'away' and phaer- 'to take'. So apheretic describes a sound or syllable that is 'taken away' from the start of a word, as in 'squire' from 'esquire'.