enclitic

American  

[en-klit-ik] / ɛnˈklɪt ɪk /

adjective

1. (of a word) closely connected in pronunciation with the preceding word and not having an independent accent or phonological status.

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noun

1. an enclitic word, as Latin que “and” in arma virumque, “arms and the man.”

enclitic British  

/ ɪnˈklɪtɪk /

adjective

1. 1. denoting or relating to a monosyllabic word or form that is treated as a suffix of the preceding word, as Latin -que in populusque

   2. (in classical Greek) denoting or relating to a word that throws an accent back onto the preceding word

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noun

1. an enclitic word or linguistic form

Other Word Forms

• enclitically
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of enclitic

1650–60; < Late Latin encliticus < Greek enklitikós, equivalent to en- en- ² + klít ( os ) slope + -ikos -ic

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

enclitic

Properly based Oun— Gave us the doctrine of the enclitic De, Dead from the waist down.

From The Voice of Science in Nineteenth-Century Literature Representative Prose and Verse by Various

In this system of spelling the circumflex is omitted when these words are enclitic.

From A Handbook of the Cornish Language chiefly in its latest stages with some account of its history and literature by Henry Jenner

From earliest times some words have become parasitic or enclitic upon other words.

From The Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia Volume 1 of 28 by Project Gutenberg

Fiction, I'll bet a sovereign, unless it is an essay on extending the sphere of feminine usefulness, or on the doctrine of the enclitic De, or on First Aid to the Sick and Wounded.

From The Tree of Knowledge A Novel by Mrs. Baillie Reynolds

But if the syllable still remains short after the enclitic has been added, it is not accented unless the word originally took the accent on the antepenult.

From New Latin Grammar by Charles E. (Charles Edwin) Bennett