Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A coalition or union of two vowels pronounced in one syllable; a diphthong: as ai in ‘rain,’ oi in ‘noise,’ etc.

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

  • noun A diphthong

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

bi- +‎ vocal

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word bivocal.

Examples

  • Ludloe referred me to that day, for, at the moment, I was doubtful whether there had not been some bivocal agency exerted On that occasion.

    Memoirs of Carwin, the Biloquist Charles Brockden Brown 1790

  • I had exerted, on numerous occasions, my bivocal faculty, but, in my intercourse with Ludloe, had suffered not the slightest intimation to escape me with regard to it.

    Memoirs of Carwin, the Biloquist Charles Brockden Brown 1790

  • A sentiment, which I can hardly describe, induced me to be silent on all adventures connected with my bivocal projects.

    Memoirs of Carwin, the Biloquist Charles Brockden Brown 1790

  • W.M. Woods Oak Ridge, Tennessee Donald Drury's "A Harvest of Heteronyms" [IX, 3] pays welcome attention to this bivocal word-category.

    VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol IX No 3 1983

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