metathesis

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin metathesis, from Ancient Greek μετάθεσις (metáthesis), from μετά (metá, “among”) +‎ θέσις (thésis, “placement”).

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /mə.ˈtæ.θə.sɪs/
(US) IPA^(key): /mə.ˈtæ.θə.sɪs/, [mə.ˈtʰæ.θə.səs], /mɛ.ˈtæ.θə.sɪs/, [mɛ.ˈtʰæ.θə.sɪs]
Audio (Southern England): (file)

Noun

metathesis (countable and uncountable, plural metatheses)

(phonetics, prosody) The transposition of letters, syllables or sounds within a word, such as in ask as /æks/.
Hyponym: hyperthesis
(inorganic chemistry) The double decomposition of inorganic salts.
(organic chemistry) The breaking and reforming of double bonds in olefins in which substituent groups are swapped.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

the transposition of letters, syllables or sounds within a word

Arabic: قَلْب مَكَانِيّ m (qalb makāniyy)
Armenian: դրափոխություն (hy) (drapʻoxutʻyun)
Azerbaijani: yerdəyişmə
Breton: metatezenn (br) f
Catalan: metàtesi (ca) f
Dutch: metathesis (nl) f, metathese (nl) f, letteromzetting f
Finnish: takaheitto, metateesi (fi)
French: métathèse (fr) f
Galician: metátese (gl) f
German: Metathese (de) f
Greek: αντιμετάθεση (el) f (antimetáthesi)
Ancient: μετάθεσις f (metáthesis)
Hungarian: hangátvetés (hu)
Icelandic: hljóðavíxl n pl, stafavíxl n pl
Italian: metatesi f
Japanese: 音位転換 (おんいてんかん, on'itenkan)
Malay: metatesis
Nepali: विपर्यय (viparyaya)
Old Norse: stafasnúning
Polish: metateza f, przestawka (pl) f
Portuguese: metátese (pt) f
Romanian: metateză (ro) f
Russian: метате́за (ru) f (metatɛ́za), перестано́вка (ru) f (perestanóvka) (зву́ков и́ли слого́в в слова́х)
Scottish Gaelic: eadar-chàradh m
Spanish: metátesis (es) f
Swedish: stavelseväxling c, metates (sv) c
Welsh: trawsosodiad m
Yoruba: pàṣípààrọ̀

the double decomposition of inorganic salts

Finnish: metateesi (fi)
Portuguese: dupla troca f, metátese (pt) f

the breaking and reforming of double bonds in olefins in which substituent groups are swapped

Finnish: metateesi (fi)
Malay: metatesis
Polish: metateza f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

French: ^{(please verify)} métathèse (fr) f
Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} gagnkvæm efnahópaskipti við efnahvörf n pl, ^{(please verify)} gagnkvæm frumeindaskipti við efnahvörf n pl
Italian: ^{(please verify)} metatesi f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: ^{(please verify)} метатеза f

Roman: ^{(please verify)} metateza (sh) f

Anagrams

thematises