syncope

Meaning

Noun

• The loss or elision of a sound, from the interior of a word, especially of a vowel sound with loss of a syllable. For example, the change of cannot to can't, never to ne'er, calidus to caldus, or the pronunciation of the -cester ending in placenames as -ster (for example, Leicester pronounced Leister or Lester, and Worcester pronounced Wooster).
• A loss of consciousness when someone faints, a swoon.
• A missed beat or off-beat stress in music resulting in syncopation.

Related

Similar words

• faint, fainting, lipothymia

Broader meaning words

• metaplasm

Origin

• Late Latin syncope, from Ancient Greek συγκοπή, from συγκόπτω + -η, from σύν + κόπτω.