Inflect
/ɪnˈflɛkt/noun
To change the form of a word to express grammatical features such as tense, number, or case.
Did you know?The same Latin root behind *inflect* also gave us words tied to bending and folding, because ancient grammarians thought changing a word’s shape was literally a kind of verbal bending.
Etymological Timeline
Latin
Latin
inflexus
“bent in, curved, folded inward”
Late Latin
Latin
inflexiō
“a bending, a grammatical inflection”
Middle English
English
infleccioun
“a bending; later, a change in word form”
14th Century
English
inflecten
“to bend; later, to vary a word form grammatically”
Modern English
English
inflect
“to alter a word’s form to express grammatical categories”
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