syncope

See also: syncopé

English

Alternative forms

• syncopé (obsolete)

Etymology

Late Latin syncope, from Ancient Greek συγκοπή (sunkopḗ), from συγκόπτω (sunkóptō, “cut up”) + -η (-ē, “nominalization suffix”), from σύν (sún, “beside, with”) + κόπτω (kóptō, “strike, cut off”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪŋ.kə.pi/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: syn‧co‧pe

Noun

syncope (countable and uncountable, plural syncopes)

2. (linguistics, phonology, prosody) 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, Latin 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).

   Antonym: epenthesis

4. (pathology) A loss of consciousness when someone faints, a swoon.
   • 1973 Patrick O'Brian, HMS Surprise

     the rapidly-whitening face, the miserable fixed smile, meant a syncope within the next few bars.

6. (music) A missed beat or off-beat stress in music resulting in syncopation.

Usage notes

Usage in the form syncope, with the phonological meaning "contraction of a word by omission of middle sounds or letters" attested from the 1520's. Doublets of said syncope with the form syncopis and sincopin, both from the Old French sincopin (“faintness”) (itself from Late Latin accusative syncopen), with the pathological meaning "a loss of consciousness accompanied by a weak pulse", attested from the fifteenth century. Said syncopis/sincopin was "relatinized" to the form syncope in English in the sixteenth century, after the linguistic use of that word was already in use. The musical usage first occurs after the 1660's, following the musical usage of syncopation and syncopate.

Synonyms

• (swoon): faint, fainting, lipothymia

Hypernyms

• (prosody): metaplasm

Derived terms

• nonsyncopated
• presyncope
• pre-syncope
• syncopal
• syncopate
• syncopation
• syncopic
• syncopist
• syncopize
• unsyncopated

 

Translations

absence of a sound

• Breton: meztroc'h m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 中略語, 中略语 (zhōnglüèyǔ)

• Dutch: syncope (nl) f
• Finnish: sisäheitto, synkopee (fi)
• French: syncope (fr) f
• German: Synkope (de) f
• Greek: συγκοπή (el) f (sygkopí)
• Hungarian: szinkópa (hu), szó belseji törlődés​/​hangtörlés​/​hangzótörlés​/​hangkivetés​/​magánhangzó-kivetés​/​hangelhagyás, (dated) hangugratás

• Japanese: 語中音消失 (ごちゅうおんしょうしつ, gochūon shōshitsu)
• Malay: lenyap bunyi, sinkope
• Occitan: sincòpa f
• Polish: synkopa (pl) f
• Portuguese: síncope (pt) m
• Russian: синко́па (ru) f (sinkópa)
• Spanish: síncope (es) m
• Swedish: synkope (sv)
• Welsh: rhyngddoriad m

loss of consciousness

• Catalan: síncope (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 昏厥 (zh) (hūnjué), 暈厥 (zh), 晕厥 (zh) (yūnjué)

• Czech: mdloba f
• Finnish: pyörtyminen (fi), synkopee (fi)
• French: syncope (fr) f, pâmoison (fr) f
• Galician: trastavai m, testabau m, agavante m, dada m, desvano m
• German: Synkope (de) f
• Greek: λιποθυμία (el) f (lipothymía)

• Hungarian: ájulás (hu), eszméletvesztés (hu), tudatvesztés
• Italian: sincope (it)
• Japanese: 気絶 (きぜつ, kizetsu)
• Occitan: sincòpi f, esvanida f, esvaniment m
• Persian: سنکوپ‎ (fa) (sankup), غش‎ (fa) (qaš)
• Portuguese: síncope (pt) f
• Russian: о́бморок (ru) m (óbmorok), синко́па (ru) f (sinkópa)
• Scottish Gaelic: fannachadh m
• Spanish: síncope (es) m, soponcio (es) (colloquial)

missed beat or off-beat stress

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: synkopa (cs) f
• Finnish: synkooppi (fi)
• French: syncope (fr) f
• German: Synkope (de) f

• Greek: συγκοπή (el) f (sygkopí)
• Icelandic: brottfall (is) n
• Polish: synkopa (pl) f
• Russian: синко́па (ru) f (sinkópa)
• Spanish: síncope (es) m
• Swedish: synkop (sv) c

Further reading

• syncope in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• syncope in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

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Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek συγκοπή (sunkopḗ).

Noun

syncope f (plural syncopes, diminutive syncopetje n)

1. (linguistics, phonology, prosody) The loss or elision of a sound from the interior of a word (for example the change of Dutch veder in veer "feather"); syncope
2. (pathology) A loss of consciousness when someone faints, a swoon; syncope
3. (music) A missed beat or off-beat stress in music resulting in syncopation; syncope

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French

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek συγκοπή (sunkopḗ).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛ̃.kɔp/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

syncope f (plural syncopes)

1. syncope, fainting
2. (phonetics) syncope

   Antonyms: aphérèse, apocope, procope

3. (music) syncope

Further reading

• “syncope” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Portuguese

Noun

syncope f (plural syncopes)

1. Obsolete spelling of síncope (used in Portugal until September 1911 and in Brazil until the 1940s).