Word.ws English Dictionary

rhotacism

Syllables: rho·ta·cism/ˈɹəʊ.tə.sɪ.zəm/US/ˈɹoʊ.tə.sɪ.zəm/

rhotacism noun: an exaggerated use of the sound of the letter R.

Noun

rhotacism (countable and uncountable, plural rhotacisms)

  1. An exaggerated use of the sound of the letter R.
  2. (countable) A linguistic phenomenon in which a consonant changes into an R; rhotacization.
  3. The inability to pronounce the letter R; derhotacization.
    • For example: r’s may become burrs or guttural grunts or w’s or l’s (rhotacism); […]1970, Leland E. Hinsie, Robert Jean Campbell, Psychiatric Dictionary, Oxford University Press, page 711
    • From the analysis of Kana writings, hypothesizes that the inability to establish a stable… […] The correction of rhotacism by means of an electric vibrator.1976: Deafness, Speech, and Hearing Publications, Inc., of Gallaudet College & the American Speech and Hearing Association, DSH Abstracts, volumes 16–17 (1976–1977), page 289 (Deafness Speech and...

rhotacism meaning in Tamil

rhotacism in Tamil

ரகரமோகம்

Forms of rhotacism

pluralrhotacisms

Origin of rhotacism

From New Latin rhōtacismus, from Ancient Greek *ῥωτακισμός (*rhōtakismós), from ῥωτακίζω (rhōtakízō, “to incorrectly use rho”), from ῥῶ (rhô, “rho (the Greek equivalent of r)”) in analogy with ἰωτακίζω (iōtakízō, “to incorrectly use iota”); itself from ἰῶτα (iôta) in analogy with ἀττικίζω (attikízō, “talk like an Athenian”). By surface analysis, rho + -tacism.

Words formed from rhotacism

Questions about rhotacism

What does rhotacism mean?
Rhotacism means an exaggerated use of the sound of the letter R.
What is rhotacism in Tamil?
Rhotacism in Tamil is ரகரமோகம். See Rhotacism meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is rhotacism?
Rhotacism is a noun.
How do you pronounce rhotacism?
Rhotacism is pronounced /ˈɹəʊ.tə.sɪ.zəm/ (UK).
What is the plural of rhotacism?
The plural of rhotacism is rhotacisms.

Words near rhotacism in the dictionary

  1. rhotacisation
  2. rhotacise
  3. rhotacised
  4. rhotacises
  5. rhotacising
  6. rhotacism
  7. rhotacisms
  8. rhotacismus
  9. rhotacization
  10. rhotacize
  11. rhotacized

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rhotacism (page history and authors); rhotacism (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-rhotacism.wav.

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