Zetacism

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A sound change converting a consonant into /z/, the voiced alveolar sibilant. uncountable

    "In the Lettish language, which partakes altogether of a more modern character, the zetacism seizes the dentals, gutterals ^([sic]), sibilants and liquids […]"

  2. 2
    The lack of a sound change in a language when languages in the same family undergo rhotacism. uncountable

Example

More examples

"In the Lettish language, which partakes altogether of a more modern character, the zetacism seizes the dentals, gutterals ^([sic]), sibilants and liquids […]"

Etymology

From zeta + -cism (phenomenon related to a specific phoneme).

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