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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. In Greek, the pronunciation of certain letters, like eta and upsilon, as iota (ē) because of a regular sound change.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. Conversion of other vowel sounds into that of iota (English ē); specifically, in pronunciation of Greek, the practice of giving the sound of iota (ι) also to the vowels η and υ, and to the diphthongs ει, , οι, and υι indiscriminately. This is the rule in modern Greek. Also called itacism. Opposed to etacism. Compare lambdacism, rhotacism.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A misspelling resulting from such pronunciation.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. The frequent use of the sound of iota (that of English e in be), as among the modern Greeks; also, confusion from sounding ε, ι, η, υ, ει, etc., like ι.

Etymologies

  1. Late Latin iōtacismus, from Greek iōtakismos, from iōta, iota; see iota. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “[Page 323] macism or imperfect pronunciation of g; iotacism, defective pronunciation of the gutturals; mogilalia, imperfect pronunciation of the labials, and according to some authors, as Preyer, mogilalia is made to include also the suppression of the first sound of a word.”

    The Montessori Method

  • “The spelling "Lite" is incorrect and comes from iotacism.”

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 9: Laprade-Mass Liturgy

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‘iotacism’ has been looked up 443 times, loved by 1 person, added to 2 lists, and has a Scrabble score of 12.