synalepha

• synalœpha, synaloepha

Borrowed from Ancient Greek συναλοιφή (sunaloiphḗ, “a coalescing, confluence”) (< Ancient Greek συν- (sun-) + ἀλοιφή (aloiphḗ)).

synalepha (countable and uncountable, plural synalephas)

1. The suppression of a vowel at the end of word when it is followed by another word beginning with a vowel.
2. The melding into a single syllable of two vowels from two different syllables.

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “synalepha”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• synalepha on Wikipedia.Wikipedia