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rhotacism.

An exaggerated use of the sound of the letter R.

9 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈɹəʊ.tə.sɪ.zəm/Received-Pronunciation/ˈɹoʊ.tə.sɪ.zəm/General-American
  1. An exaggerated use of the sound of the letter R.

    countable · uncountable
  2. A linguistic phenomenon in which a consonant changes into an R; rhotacization.

    countable
  3. The inability to pronounce the letter R; derhotacization.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From New Latin rhōtacismus, from Ancient Greek *ῥωτακισμός (*rhōtakismós), from ῥωτακίζω (rhōtakízō, “to incorrectly use rho”), from ῥῶ (rhô, “rho (the Greek equivalent of r)”) in analogy with ἰωτακίζω (iōtakízō, “to incorrectly use iota”); itself from ἰῶτα (iôta) in analogy with ἀττικίζω (attikízō, “talk like an Athenian”). By surface analysis, rho + -tacism.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.