What does "svarabhakti" mean?

The epenthesis of a vowel, as in the football chant Engerland for England; anaptyxis.

What is a synonym for "svarabhakti"?

Common synonyms include: anaptyxis, anaptyxis.

Pronounced //ˌsvɑɹəˈbɑkti//.

//ˌsvɑɹəˈbɑkti// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
The epenthesis of a vowel, as in the football chant Engerland for England; anaptyxis. uncountable, usually
"Svarabhakti is a common feature of northern Indian languages such as Hindi and Bengali."

"Svarabhakti is a common feature of northern Indian languages such as Hindi and Bengali."

Borrowed from Sanskrit स्वरभक्ति (svára-bhakti, “vowel separation”), a compound of स्वर (svára, “vowel”) + भक्ति (bhaktí, “separation”).

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