Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In phonetics, the involuntary utterance of an auxiliary vowel, especially before r, l, m, and n, in certain positions, as in lucre, able, chasm, etc.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun phonetics epenthesis of a vowel – insertion of a vowel. For example, the middle ‘-a-’ in thataway, or use of infixes -i- and -o- in coining English words on classical roots.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek ἀνάπτυξις.

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Examples

  • I might also be interested to find out that vowel insertion is widespread enough in the world's languages to have a name, epenthesis also called anaptyxis.

    Archive 2007-05-01 David Wharton 2007

  • I might also be interested to find out that vowel insertion is widespread enough in the world's languages to have a name, epenthesis also called anaptyxis.

    Peevish About Language Pet Peevishness David Wharton 2007

  • The extra vowel use has a word for itself, anaptyxis.

    VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol VI No 1 1979

  • The latter case is specifically called anaptyxis or sometimes svarabhakti, which is a Sanskrit word specifically for the insertion of a vowel after the letter l or r before another consonant.

    The Irish Svarabhakti 2021

Comments

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  • 'insertion of a vowel between two consonants for ease of pronunciation'

    March 31, 2008

  • It's exciting Greeks didn't use anaptyxis for anaptyxis itself.

    March 31, 2008

  • Yes, bunch of boyf***ing bastards.

    March 31, 2008

  • Excuse me?

    March 31, 2008

  • I'm hoping that was intended as a joke. Although not an especially funny one.

    March 31, 2008

  • Interesting, I hadn't heard this one before, but I have noticed the vowel insertion many times.

    April 2, 2008

  • There was a famous incident - for Australians, anyway - when Juan Antonio Samaranch, then president of the IOC, announced that in awarding host city rights for the 2000 Olympic Games, "The winner is ... Syd-e-ney." The clip was played endlessly of course in Sydney and elsewhere over the following weeks, to the point where people came to notice the extra vowel in the pronunciation. There was even speculation that his name was probably Samranch and he just couldn't say it properly :->

    April 2, 2008

  • This would be the word for people mispronouncing realtor, I suppose. *grumbles*

    April 2, 2008

  • A synonym is svarabhakti - and interestingly, it has no svarabhakti as well.

    June 12, 2008

  • Chinese do this a lot, because they can't handle character strings. Maybe others do too. I'm reminded of a protest march Gibraltar once, where a banner read "British we are and British we estay".

    June 16, 2008

  • "British we estay!" – hilarious, johnmperry! Thanks!

    June 16, 2008