Syncope
/ˈsɪŋ.kə.pi/noun
A temporary loss of consciousness caused by a sudden drop in blood flow to the brain; also, the omission of sounds or letters within a word.
Did you know?In rhetoric and linguistics, syncope is the name for a sound being literally cut out of a word, and the term comes from the same Greek root behind the idea of a sudden “cutting off.”
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*sek-
“to cut”
Ancient Greek
Greek
synkopḗ (συγκοπή)
“a cutting up or off; later, omission in speech and a sudden fainting”
Late Latin
Latin
syncopa
“a cutting off; omission of a syllable or letter”
Old French
Old French
syncope
“loss of consciousness; omission in pronunciation”
14th–15th Century
Middle English
syncope
“fainting; later, the omission of a sound in a word”
Modern English
English
syncope
“a brief fainting spell; in linguistics, the loss of a sound within a word”
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