# Term for words that have dropped a syllable over time **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 27, 2007, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-have-dropped-a-syllable-over-time/413382 "2007-07-27T15:30:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-have-dropped-a-syllable-over-time/413382/1 "2007-07-27T15:30:52Z")
Rats! And I just saw this term recently in this very forum, but I must not be searching correctly. It the term for when you have commonly understood words that over time lose a syllable (usually the prefix). **Sort-of-not-really example:** if the word “inflammable” completely vanished and all we ever used was “flammable”. **Fake example with made up word:** “bosmutpurdoodle” becomes “smutpurdoodle” and several generations have never heard of the original word. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-have-dropped-a-syllable-over-time/413382/2 "2007-07-27T15:42:24Z")
[QUOTE=Swallowed My Cellphone] Rats! And I just saw this term recently in this very forum, but I must not be searching correctly. It the term for when you have commonly understood words that over time lose a syllable (usually the prefix). **Sort-of-not-really example:** if the word “inflammable” completely vanished and all we ever used was “flammable”. **Fake example with made up word:** “bosmutpurdoodle” becomes “smutpurdoodle” and several generations have never heard of the original word. [/QUOTE] It depends where the syllable is. First syllable: aphesis, as in your example. Middle syllable: syncope. Boatswain \> bo’s’n \> bosun Final syllable: apocope. Why not procope for number one? I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-have-dropped-a-syllable-over-time/413382/3 "2007-07-27T15:49:48Z")
[QUOTE=Dr. Drake] It depends where the syllable is. First syllable: aphesis, as in your example. Middle syllable: syncope. Boatswain \> bo’s’n \> bosun Final syllable: apocope. Why not procope for number one? I don’t know. [/QUOTE] No, those aren’t the word I’m trying to find. It’s the term for the process by which the above terms happens. Like \< term \> results in aphesis, syncope, or apocope. ETA: I’m trying to find a list of etymological terms, but I keep finding etymological dictionaries when I search. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-have-dropped-a-syllable-over-time/413382/4 "2007-07-27T15:56:27Z")
Oh, and also, the words don’t just _sound_ that way, like “Toronto” becoming “Tronna”, but they end up in the dictionary that way as offical words. The original word almost becoming effectively obsolete. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-have-dropped-a-syllable-over-time/413382/5 "2007-07-27T16:53:21Z")
Oh, I misunderstood. Elision? ---
**Author:** ![steadierfooting](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@steadierfooting](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steadierfooting)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-have-dropped-a-syllable-over-time/413382/6 "2007-07-27T17:02:38Z")
Limo -\> Limousine? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-have-dropped-a-syllable-over-time/413382/7 "2007-07-27T17:03:51Z")
It’s called “English place names”. ---
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-have-dropped-a-syllable-over-time/413382/8 "2007-07-27T17:37:44Z")
[QUOTE=Swallowed My Cellphone] Oh, and also, the words don’t just _sound_ that way, like “Toronto” becoming “Tronna”, but they end up in the dictionary that way as offical words. The original word almost becoming effectively obsolete. [/QUOTE] I’m pretty sure this is _aphesis_. Other common examples in English: _esquire_ -\> _squire_ _opossum_ -\> _possum_ ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-have-dropped-a-syllable-over-time/413382/9 "2007-07-27T17:44:14Z")
Come to think of it, I may have seen it in an answer card for the etymology and semantics game Moot. IIRC the term is a single word. Maybe I can go through all the cards and find it. It’s a term I’d never seen before. Can you say “aphesing”? Or is “aphesis” a noun only? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-have-dropped-a-syllable-over-time/413382/10 "2007-07-27T23:44:49Z")
FWIW, elision is the process of _I am_ becoming _I’m_, etc., and _every_ becoming _ev’ry_. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-have-dropped-a-syllable-over-time/413382/11 "2007-07-28T00:02:51Z")
[QUOTE=CJJ\*] I’m pretty sure this is _aphesis_. Other common examples in English: _esquire_ -\> _squire_ _opossum_ -\> _possum_ [/QUOTE] _Squire_ and _possum_ may be examples of [aphesis](http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aphesis) but _flammable_ and _smutpurdoodle_ obtain from [aphaeresis](http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aphaeresis). ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-have-dropped-a-syllable-over-time/413382/12 "2007-07-28T00:06:51Z")
Meh, I could care less. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-for-words-that-have-dropped-a-syllable-over-time/413382/13 "2007-07-28T00:59:40Z")
Metaplasm? Or maybe one of the specific types of metaplasm listed here: [http://rhetoric.byu.edu/figures/M/metaplasm.htm](http://rhetoric.byu.edu/figures/M/metaplasm.htm)