THE FIRST WORD

syncope

PRONUNCIATION:

(SING-kuh-pee) 

MEANING:

noun:
1. The shortening of a word by omission of sounds or letters from its middle. For example, did not to didn't or Worcester to Wooster.
2. Fainting caused by insufficient blood flow to the brain.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin syncope, from Greek synkope (contraction, cutting off), from syn- (together) + koptein (to cut). Earliest documented use: c. 1400.

USAGE:

"There were important books on vowel syncope in Greek and Indo-European."
Robert Coleman; Oswald Szemerenyi -- Hungary's Eclectic Cockney Linguist; The Guardian (London, UK); Feb 24, 1997.