diphthongy

English

Etymology

From diphthong +‎ -y.

Adjective

diphthongy (comparative more diphthongy, superlative most diphthongy)

  1. (informal) Having the quality of a diphthong.
    Synonyms: diphthongic, diphthongal
    • 1971, James Leo Herlihy, Season of the Witch‎[1], RosettaBooks, →ISBN:
      This ghost is the only other person besides Neyeurme who can say it correctly because it has all these diphthongy tongue-strangling nuances to it.
    • 1990 January 9, Roger Lustig, “Second rate composers (was Re: Tchiakovsky)”, in rec.music.classical‎[2] (Usenet):
      American vowels tend to be very impure and diphthongy; you do NOT want this sound in your Italian or Latin.
    • 2006, Peter Rushforth, A Dead Language‎[3], London: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN:
      You could see Oliver brightening up at the sight of that æ. He – keen on diphthongy things – really liked words with ligatures. Julius Cæsar!
    • 2007 March 4, SMC, “Just heard”, in rec.arts.mystery‎[4] (Usenet):
      I thought it was a sort of weird diphthongy vowel, almost like the French "dure" (hard) crossed with "do-er" -- very distinctive in a hard-to-pin-down way.
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