Epenthesis

//ɪˈpɛn.θə.sɪs// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The insertion of a phoneme, letter, or syllable into a word, usually to satisfy the phonological constraints of a language or poetic context. countable, uncountable
  2. 2
    the insertion of a vowel or consonant into a word to make its pronunciation easier wordnet

Etymology

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

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.