Word.ws English Dictionary

metathesis

/məˈtæ.θə.sɪs/US/məˈtæ.θə.sɪs/

metathesis noun: the transposition of letters, syllables or sounds within a word.

Noun

metathesis (countable and uncountable, plural metatheses)

  1. (rhetoric) The transposition of letters, syllables or sounds within a word.
  2. The double decomposition of inorganic salts.
  3. The breaking and reforming of double bonds in olefins in which substituent groups are swapped.

metathesis meaning in Tamil, Nepali, Tagalog and Arabic

metathesis in Tamil

மெய் இடம் பெயர்தல்

metathesis in Nepali

the transposition of letters, syllables or sounds within a word
विपर्यय viparyaya

metathesis in Tagalog

the transposition of letters, syllables or sounds within a word
metatesis

metathesis in Arabic

the transposition of letters, syllables or sounds within a word
قَلْب مَكَانِيّ qalb makāniyy
More languagesFewer languages
metathesis in Malay
metatesis

Forms of metathesis

pluralmetatheses

Origin of metathesis

Borrowed from Late Latin metathesis, from Ancient Greek μετάθεσις (metáthesis), from μετά (metá, “among”) + θέσις (thésis, “placement”).

Words formed from metathesis

Questions about metathesis

What does metathesis mean?
Metathesis means the transposition of letters, syllables or sounds within a word.
What is metathesis in Tamil?
Metathesis in Tamil is மெய் இடம் பெயர்தல். See Metathesis meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is metathesis?
Metathesis is a noun.
How do you pronounce metathesis?
Metathesis is pronounced /məˈtæ.θə.sɪs/ (UK).
What is the plural of metathesis?
The plural of metathesis is metatheses.

Words near metathesis in the dictionary

  1. metathesauri
  2. metathesaurus
  3. metathesauruses
  4. metatheses
  5. metathesiophobia
  6. metathesis
  7. metathesise
  8. metathesised
  9. metathesises
  10. metathesising
  11. metathesize

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: metathesis (page history and authors); metathesis (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.

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

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