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diphthong

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Diphthong

English

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WOTD – 17 September 2006

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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PIE word
*dwóh₁

From French diphtongue, from Late Latin diphthongus, from Ancient Greek δίφθογγος (díphthongos, “two sounds”), from δίς (dís, “twice”) + φθόγγος (phthóngos, “sound”).

Pronunciation

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  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈdɪfˌθɒŋ(ɡ)/, /ˈdɪpˌθɒŋ(ɡ)/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈdɪpˌθɔŋ/, /ˈdɪfˌθɔŋ/; (cot–caught merger) /ˈdɪpˌθɑŋ/, /ˈdɪfˌθɑŋ/[1]
  • Audio (US); /ˈdɪpˌθɔŋ/:(file)
  • Audio (Canada); /ˈdɪfˌθɔŋ/:(file)
  • Notes: Pronunciations with /p/ are more common in American English than elsewhere.

Noun

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Examples (phonetics)

diphthong (plural diphthongs)

  1. (phonology) A complex vowel sound that begins with the sound of one vowel and ends with the sound of another vowel, in the same syllable.
    Synonym: gliding vowel
    Coordinate terms: monophthong, triphthong, hiatus, synizesis
    • 2021 October 5, Gessica Puccini, “Lang Belta: the Belter language from SYFY/Amazon’s The Expanse”, in Lingoblog‎[1]:
      In Lang Belta vowels usually appear preceding or following a consonant (see previous examples), and as of now no occurrence of diphthongs or triphthongs has been attested.
  2. (phonology) A diaphoneme realized as a two-target vowel in some but not necessarily all dialects.
  3. (rare) A vowel digraph or ligature.
    • 1854, Robert Bigsby, Historical and Topographical Description of Repton, in the County of Derby‎[2], Woodfall and Kinder, page 47:
      And he might have written the name, also, with the diphthong æ, as well as the single vowel, in the initial syllable, throughout all the preceding forms.
    • 1860, Joseph E. Worcester, An Elementary Dictionary of the English Language‎[3], Swan, Brewer, and Tileston, page 12:
      An improper diphthong has only one of the vowels sounded; as, ea in heat, oa in coal.
    • 1874, Theophilus Dwight Hall, A Child’s First Latin Book‎[4], John Murray, page 3:
      The diphthong ae is sounded like ē (§7); that is, it has the sound of ey in they.

Coordinate terms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ “diphthong”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Further reading

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