Apophony
//əˈpɒfəni// noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Modification of an internal vowel sound in a word or linguistic root, especially so as to establish a lexical distinction. countable, uncountable
"Cinglar has the merit of referring to a back and forth movement, which one might suppose is suggested by the apophony of zinguizangue […]"
Example
More examples"Cinglar has the merit of referring to a back and forth movement, which one might suppose is suggested by the apophony of zinguizangue […]"
Etymology
From French apophonie, from French apo- + Ancient Greek φωνή (phōnḗ, “sound”), after Ancient Greek ἀπο- (apo-, “away, from, off”) + φωνή (phōnḗ, “sound”).
More for "apophony"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.