adjective
- relating to or involving epenthesis; characterized by the insertion of a sound or letter into a word
Usage: linguistics; technical
Examples
- The epenthetic vowel in the word 'athlete' is sometimes pronounced by speakers.
- In some dialects, an epenthetic consonant is inserted between certain vowel clusters.
- The linguist identified an epenthetic sound that appeared in the middle of the borrowed word.
- Epenthetic insertion is common when speakers adapt foreign words to their native language.
- The epenthetic 'p' in 'something' reflects historical sound changes in English.