Apocope

In phonology, apocope (/əˈpɒkəpi/ ə-POCK-ə-pee)^[1]^[2] is the omission (elision) or loss of a sound or sounds at the end of a word. While it most commonly refers to the loss of a final vowel, it can also describe the deletion of final consonants or even entire syllables.^[3]

For instance, in much spoken English, the t in the word don't is lost in the phrase I don't know, leading to the written representation I dunno.

The resulting word form after apocope has occurred is called an apocopation.

Etymology

Apocope comes from the Greek ἀποκοπή (apokopḗ) from ἀποκόπτειν (apokóptein) 'cutting off', from ἀπο- (apo-) 'away from' and κόπτειν (kóptein) 'to cut'.^[4]^[5]

Historical sound change

In historical linguistics, the term apocope is often used to refer to the systemic loss of final unstressed vowels and/or nasal consonants as part of a regular sound-change. This kind of apocope often entails change to or loss of inflexional endings.^[6]

Examples of the loss of an unstressed vowel and/or nasal consonant

Latin mare → Portuguese mar (sea)
Vulgar Latin panem → Spanish pan (bread)
Vulgar Latin lupum → French loup (wolf)
Proto-Germanic *landą → Old, Middle, and Modern English land
Old English lufu → Modern English love (noun)
Old English lufian → Modern English love (verb)
The loss of a final unstressed vowel is a feature of southern dialects of Māori in comparison to standard Māori, for example the term kainga (village) is rendered in southern Māori as kaik. A similar feature is seen in the Gallo-Italic languages.
Finnic linna → Estonian linn (city)
Finnic linnan → Estonian linna (city's)
Colloquial Finnish suomeksi → suomeks (in Finnish)

Examples of the loss of other sounds

Non-rhotic English accents, including British Received Pronunciation, suppress the final r in each syllable (except when it is followed by a vowel). (In most accents, the suppressed r lengthens or modifies the preceding vowel.)
French pronunciation suppresses the final consonant of most words (but it is normally pronounced as a liaison at the beginning of the following word in the sentence if the latter word begins with a vowel or with an unaspirated 'h').

Grammatical rule

Some languages have apocopations that are internalized as mandatory forms. In Spanish and Italian, for example, some adjectives that come before the noun lose the final vowel or syllable if they precede a noun (mainly) in the masculine singular form. In Spanish, some adverbs and cardinal and ordinal numbers have apocopations as well.

Adjectives
- grande ("big, great") → gran → gran mujer (feminine) ("great woman". However, if the adjective follows the noun, the final syllable remains, but the meaning may also change: mujer grande, meaning "large woman")
- bueno ("good") → buen → buen hombre (masculine) ("good man"; the final vowel remains in hombre bueno, with no accompanying change in meaning)
Adverbs
- tanto ("so much") → tan ("so") → tan hermoso ("so beautiful")
Cardinal numbers
- uno ("one, a, an") → un → un niño ("a child")
- ciento ("hundred") → cien → Cien años de soledad ("One hundred years of solitude")
Ordinal numbers
- primero ("first") → primer → primer premio ("first prize")
- segundo ("second, according to") → segund ("according to") → según → El evangelio según ("The Gospel according to")
- tercero ("third") → tercer → tercer lugar ("third place")
- postrero ("final") → postrer → postrer día ("final day")

Economy of expression

Apocope can also refer to the shortening of words for economy. This is common in nicknames, such as William → Will or Margery → Marge, but occurs in other words, such as fanatic → fan and laboratory → lab.^[6]

References

^ "Apocope". Oxford Dictionaries UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on December 5, 2021.^{[dead link]}
^ "Apocope". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 2016-01-21.
^ Campbell, Lyle (2007). Glossary of Historical Linguistics. Edinburgh University Press. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-7486-3019-6.
^ "apocope, n.", Oxford English Dictionary (3 ed.), Oxford University Press, 2023-03-02, doi:10.1093/oed/5903421853, retrieved 2025-07-23
^ Matthews, P. H. (2014). "Apocope". The concise Oxford dictionary of linguistics. Oxford paperback reference (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-967512-8.
^ ^a ^b McArthur, Tom; Lam-McArthur, Jacqueline; Fontaine, Lise, eds. (2018). "Apocope". The Oxford Companion to English Language. S. I.: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-966128-2.