Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A complex speech sound or glide that begins with one vowel and gradually changes to another vowel within the same syllable, as (oi) in boil or (ī) in fine.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A coalition or union of two vowels pronounced in one syllable. In uttering a proper diphthong both vowels are pronounced; the sound is not simple, but the two sounds are so blended as to be considered as forming one syllable, as in joy, noise, bound, out. An “improper” diphthong is not a diphthong at all, being merely a collocation of two or more vowels in the same syllable, of which only one is sounded, as ea in breach, eo in people, ai in rain, eau in beau. (See
digraph .) In Greek grammar, a proper diphthong is a diphthong the first vowel of which is short; an improper diphthong, a diphthong the first vowel of which is long. The proper diphthongs areαι ,ει ,οι ,αυ ,ευ ,ου ; the improper,α%26ι ,ηι ,ωι (commonly writtenᾳ ,ῃ ,ῳ : seeiota subscript , under subscript),ηυ ,ωυ . An improper diphthong not usually distinguished as such isα%26υ , as inνα%26υ%21ς , Epicνηυ%21ς . Some includeυτ in this class, and some limit the term toᾳ ,ῃ ,ῳ . - To sound as a diphthong; diphthongize.
Wiktionary
- n. phonetics A complex vowel sound that begins with the sound of one vowel and ends with the sound of another vowel, in the same syllable.
- n. rare A vowel digraph or ligature.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A coalition or union of two vowel sounds pronounced in one syllable; as,
ou inout ,oi innoise ; -- called a proper diphthong. - n. A vowel digraph; a union of two vowels in the same syllable, only one of them being sounded; as,
ai inrain ,eo inpeople ; -- called an improper diphthong. - v. rare To form or pronounce as a diphthong; diphthongize.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a vowel sound that starts near the articulatory position for one vowel and moves toward the position for another
Etymologies
- French diphtongue, from Ancient Greek δίφθογγος (diphthongos, "two sounds"), from δίς (dis, "twice") + φθόγγος (phthongos, "sound"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English diptonge, from Old French diptongue, from Late Latin diphthongus, from Greek diphthongos : di-, two; see di-1 + phthongos, sound. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“A diphthong is the gliding sound of combining vowels, as in the oy in the head-smacking Yiddish oy veh.”
Simon & Schuster: The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time
“When one syllable of a word ends with a vowel, and the next syllable begins with the same vowel, the hyphen is placed between the syllables to indicate that the two vowels do not form a diphthong, that is, that they should not be pronounced together.”
"Stops", Or How to Punctuate A Practical Handbook for Writers and Students
“A diphthong is the union of _two_ vowels, pronounced by a single impulse of the voice; as _oi_ in voice, _ou_ in sound.”
“For example, when you encounter the "eye" diphthong in your words, sustain your voice on the first pure vowel in the diphthong, which is "ah".”
“He could not reconcile this kind of diphthong living with his notions of piety.”
“Apropos of that -- we have a 'diphthong' also in this part of the world -- not a _Greek_, but a _Spanish_ one -- do you understand me?”
Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 5 (of 6) With His Letters and Journals
“All nasty nouns should be replaced by the word "diphthong".”
“Apropos of that ” we have a 'diphthong' also in this part of the world ” not a Greek, but a Spanish one ” do you understand me? ” which is about to blow up the whole alphabet.”
“Many dictionaries and textbooks use/e/for both the diphthong and the single vowel, but in most varieties of AmE the vowel in “egg” is higher than in “bay”, so they need different symbols.”
“One exercise that I am recalling required placing a sheet of paper in front of our mouths while speaking -- it wasn't supposed to move -- and then there was the problem of diphthong (a special problem for many with "southern" accents) ... ahh, the memories!”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘diphthong’.
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probablyankita's list
Words are all I have to take your heart away
apartheid, techno-klutz, logorrheic, gordian knot, anodyne, odor of sanctity, finders keepers, foot-in-mouth dis..., dutch uncle, masquerade, smoke signals, furtive glance and 320 more...
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LIT - Ulysses - key words and phrases
money cowrie, bedraggle, omphalos, ineluctable, postprandial, bladderwrack, modality barnacle..., loofah, shipworm, cither, embattle, Malachi and 503 more...
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Not 250 Spelling Words Again
Yet more spelling words for intermediate to advanced spellers.
kyoodle, heimin, feis, menarche, cordwainer, gherao, zythum, accidie, anastomosis, boustrophedon, oleum, penicillin and 238 more...
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Linguistic Terms
Words that (mostly) only linguists know.
arpabet, protologism, diacritic, macron, macaronic, capitonym, grapheme, boustrophedon, allograph, analphabetic, idiomatic, portmanteau and 40 more...
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9-16 letter words without E
abduction, abolitionist, abomination, actuality, addiction, administration, admission, ambiguous, anticlimactic, application, arachnophobia, arthropathy and 186 more...
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phth
Words with that sequence of letters
phthalo, phthalate, apophthegm, phthalocyanine, naphtha, phthor, phthisic, diphtheria, ophthalmologist, exophthalmia, diphthong, phthongometer and 52 more...
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logos's list
A poor pathetic thing, but mine own.
invidious, lugubriousness, vilify, noisome, synastry, front and center, declension, conjugation, regnal, diphthong, circumlocution, bishopric and 141 more...
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Vega's Logophile Dictionary
Words I've heard/read in use, words being learnt, words that I want to eventually use in everyday language, words that are high-brow and elitist and scholarly and obscure, words that display the wo...
parsimonious, torpor, recalcitrant, plebeian, vitriol, gumption, augur, aestival, celerity, diaphanous, farrago, nonpareil and 287 more...
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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Rubbies
Words and things that rub me wrong
eclectic, canon, flesh, irregardless, conversate, can't, mandatory, war on christmas, male bonding, pissa, parochial, infallible and 98 more...
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gerwitz's Words
erudite, autodidactic, callipygian, ouroboros, zounds, fie, wabi, sabi, gedankenexperiment, zeitgeist, eliminativism, aether and 157 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
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cloudjuice's Words
schadenfreude, sordid, promulgate, erratic, erroneous, amalgamate, sesquipedalian, incongruous, psychosis, etymology, simulacrum, serendipity and 988 more...
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-phthong
voice; sound
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The Collection
A somewhat discriminatory list of words and phrases collected for their euphonic or arcane appeal, interesting etymology, or concise definition of an otherwise unnamed phenomenon or concept.
ziggurat, neophilia, sucker punch, soporific, epoch, tundra, fiat, idiotproof, miscellany, metaphysics, cryptozoology, dysphoria and 856 more...
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Spelling Bee list 2011
Abalone, ablution, absolution, aboriginally, abstemious, academician, acclamation, accommodation, acculturation, acetic, acetone, acme and 590 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for diphthong.

super-logos Dip your thong in water and you will have a wet article of undergear. Aug 8, 2008
skipvia Thanks for the new fodder for this list, jmp. Jun 20, 2008
johnmperry ... phthisis ... treatable with a phthalein Jun 20, 2008
chained_bear Or diphtheria... Dec 4, 2007
sarra in an amp(h)itheatre! Dec 2, 2007
reesetee Or an ophthalmologist. ;-) Dec 2, 2007
sonofgroucho Ahhhhhhhhhh.. I see it now! Dec 2, 2007
sionnach This is a condition best treated by an opthalmologist. Dec 2, 2007
rolig I keep wanting to pronounce this "dip thong", which is rather funny really. Dec 2, 2007