Adjacent Words

diphthong definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a vowel sound that starts near the articulatory position for one vowel and moves toward the position for another

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English diptonge, from Middle French diptongue, from Late Latin dipthongus, from Greek diphthongos, from di- + phthongos voice, sound Date: 15th century 1. a gliding monosyllabic speech sound (as the vowel combination at the end of toy) that starts at or near the articulatory position for one vowel and moves to or toward the position of another 2. digraph 3. the ligature æ or œ • diphthongal adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a speech sound in one syllable in which the articulation begins as for one vowel and moves as for another (as in coin, loud, and side). 2 a a digraph representing the sound of a diphthong or single vowel (as in feat). b a compound vowel character; a ligature (as æ). Derivatives: diphthongal adj. Etymology: F diphtongue f. LL diphthongus f. Gk diphthoggos (as DI-(1), phthoggos voice)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Diphthong Diph"thong (?; 115, 277), n. [L. diphthongus, Gr. ?; di- = di`s- twice + ? voice, sound, fr. ? to utter a sound: cf. F. diphthongue.] (Ortho["e]py) (a) A coalition or union of two vowel sounds pronounced in one syllable; as, ou in out, oi in noise; -- called a proper diphthong. (b) A vowel digraph; a union of two vowels in the same syllable, only one of them being sounded; as, ai in rain, eo in people; -- called an improper diphthong.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Diphthong Diph"thong, v. t. To form or pronounce as a diphthong; diphthongize. [R.]

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(diphthongs) A diphthong is a vowel in which the speaker's tongue changes position while it is being pronounced, so that the vowel sounds like a combination of two other vowels. The vowel sound in 'tail' is a diphthong. N-COUNT

Moby Thesaurus

allophone, alveolar, apico-alveolar, apico-dental, articulation, aspiration, assimilation, bilabial, cacuminal, cerebral, check, consonant, continuant, dental, dissimilation, epenthetic vowel, explosive, glide, glottal, glottalization, guttural, labial, labialization, labiodental, labiovelar, laryngeal, lateral, lingual, liquid, manner of articulation, modification, monophthong, morphophoneme, mute, nasal, occlusive, palatal, parasitic vowel, peak, pharyngeal, pharyngealization, phone, phoneme, plosive, prothetic vowel, retroflex, segmental phoneme, semivowel, sonant, sonority, speech sound, stop, surd, syllabic nucleus, syllabic peak, syllable, transition sound, triphthong, velar, vocable, vocalic, vocoid, voice, voiced sound, voiceless sound, voicing, vowel