APHESIS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The gradual disappearance of an initial (usually unstressed) vowel or syllable as in 'squire' for 'esquire'

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Hypernyms ("aphesis" is a kind of...):

deletion; omission (any process whereby sounds or words are left out of spoken words or phrases)

Derivation:

aphetic (produced by aphesis)

Credits