-cism

English

Etymology

Extracted from iotacism.

Suffix

-cism

1. Added to names of primarily Greek letters to indicate a phonetic phenomenon relating to the corresponding phoneme:
   1. Excessive usage of the phoneme.
   2. A sound change towards the phoneme.
   3. The retention of a phoneme when related varieties lose it.
   4. A speech disorder marked by either excessive or defective use of the phoneme.

Derived terms

English terms suffixed with -cism

Related terms

• -tacism