Word.ws English Dictionary

apophony

/əˈpɒfəni/US/əˈpɑfəni/

apophony noun: modification of an internal vowel sound in a word or linguistic root, especially so as to establish a lexical distinction.

Noun

apophony (countable and uncountable, plural apophonies)

  1. Modification of an internal vowel sound in a word or linguistic root, especially so as to establish a lexical distinction.
    • Cinglar has the merit of referring to a back and forth movement, which one might suppose is suggested by the apophony of zinguizangue […]1986, David A. Pharies, Structure and Analogy in the Playful Lexicon of Spanish, →ISBN, page 171
    • Apophony is also seen in talentum from τάλαντον [talanton] “talent, a unit of weight or currency.”2007 [2001], R. G. G. Coleman, “Greek and Latin”, in A.-F. Christidis, editor, A History of Ancient Greek: From the Beginnings to Late Antiquity, →ISBN, page 793

apophony meaning in Tamil

apophony in Tamil

உயிர்த்திரிபு

Synonyms of apophony

Forms of apophony

pluralapophonies

Origin of apophony

From French apophonie, from French apo- + Ancient Greek φωνή (phōnḗ, “sound”), after Ancient Greek ἀπο- (apo-, “away, from, off”) + φωνή (phōnḗ, “sound”).

Words formed from apophony

Words that rhyme with apophony

Questions about apophony

What does apophony mean?
Apophony means modification of an internal vowel sound in a word or linguistic root, especially so as to establish a lexical distinction.
What is apophony in Tamil?
Apophony in Tamil is உயிர்த்திரிபு. See Apophony meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is apophony?
Apophony is a noun.
How do you pronounce apophony?
Apophony is pronounced /əˈpɒfəni/ (UK).
What is the plural of apophony?
The plural of apophony is apophonies.

Words near apophony in the dictionary

  1. apophlegmatism
  2. apophlegmatisms
  3. apophonic
  4. apophonically
  5. apophonies
  6. apophony
  7. apophthegm
  8. apophthegmatic
  9. apophthegmatical
  10. apophthegmatically
  11. apophthegmatise

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: apophony (page history and authors); apophony (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-apophony.wav.

Cite this entry: “apophony.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/apophony. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.