ecthlipsis

noun

ec·thlip·sis

ekˈthlipsə̇s

plural ecthlipses

-pˌsēz

Latin prosody

: the elision of a final m with a preceding short vowel before a word beginning with h or a vowel

Word History

Etymology

Late Latin, from Greek ekthlipsis loss of a sound or letter in a word, squeezing out, from ekthlibein to squeeze out (from ek out of, out—from ex— + thlibein to squeeze, alteration—influenced by Greek thlan to crush, bruise—of Greek—Aeolic & Ionic—phlibein to squeeze) + -sis; Greek thlan akin to Czech dlasmati to press and perhaps to Sanskrit dṛṣad, dhṛṣad millstone