Epenthesis: (also called infixation) Adding an extra syllable or letters in the middle of a word. Shakespeare might write, 'A visitating spirit came last night' (instead of 'visiting' spirit). This choice perhaps highlights the unnatural status of the visit, or perhaps shows the speaker is being pretentious or flustered in his diction. More prosaically, Ned Flanders from The Simpsons might say, 'Gosh-diddly-darn-it, Homer' (instead of 'gosh-darn-it, Homer'). Epenthesis has resulted in new words in English--such as the word thimble, which developed from the earlier word thimel.

 

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Epenthesis: (also called infixation) Adding an extra syllable or letters in the middle of a word. Shakespeare might write, 'A visitating spirit came last night' (instead of 'visiting' spirit). This choi . . . View Full Definition

Neologism: In psychiatry, a new word or condensed combination of several words coined by a person to express a highly complex idea not readily understood by others; seen in schizophrenia and organic me . . . View Full Definition

Infixation: Also called epenthesis, infixation is placing an infix (a new syllable, a word, or similar phonetic addition) in the middle of a larger word. Some languages regularly use infixation as a par . . . View Full Definition

Anaptyxis: In linguistics, anaptyxis is the appearance of an intrusive vowel sound between two consonants when that vowel is unexpected historically or when it shouldn't be there according to the norma . . . View Full Definition