Metathesis Definition
mĭ-tăthĭ-sĭs
metatheses
noun
metatheses
Transposition or interchange.
Webster's New World
Transposition within a word of letters, sounds, or syllables, as in the change from Old English brid to modern English bird or in the confusion of modren for modern.
American Heritage
Double displacement.
American Heritage
Synonyms:
- double decomposition reaction
- double-decomposition
Other Word Forms of Metathesis
Noun
Singular:
metathesis
Plural:
metathesesOrigin of Metathesis
-
Late Latin from Greek from metatithenai to transpose meta- meta- tithenai to place dhē- in Indo-European roots
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
From Late Latin metathesis, from Ancient Greek μετάθεσις (metáthesis), from μετά (meta, “among") + θέσις (thesis, “placement").
From Wiktionary
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