clitic

noun

clit·ic | \ˈkli-tik

\

Definition of clitic

: a word that is treated in pronunciation as forming a part of a neighboring word and that is often unaccented or contracted

Contractions Are Full of Clitics

We hear clitics every day in sentences like "This'll be fine" and "C'mon over here." There are two kinds of clitics: enclitics and proclitics. An enclitic is a clitic that is associated with the word that comes before it. Contractions, such as the "ve" in would've and the "ll" in it'll, are enclitics. A proclitic is associated with the word that follows it. Proclitics are transcribed into print far less often than enclitics are, but we hear them frequently in speech. For example, the sentence "They love to dance" is typically pronounced with the to truncated to a "t" that gets tacked onto the front of dance.

Keep scrolling for more

Learn More about clitic

Listen to Our Podcast about clitic

Theme music by Joshua Stamper ©2006 New Jerusalem Music/ASCAP

Dictionary Entries near clitic

Statistics for clitic

Look-up Popularity

Time Traveler for clitic

The first known use of clitic was in 1946

See more words from the same year

WORD OF THE DAY

brouhaha

a state of commotion or excitement

Test Your Vocabulary

Words from Greek and Roman Mythology Quiz

Boreal comes from the name of the ancient Greek god of which wind?

Test your knowledge - and maybe learn something along the way.

TAKE THE QUIZ

Word Winder's CrossWinder

Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.

TAKE THE QUIZ

Words at Play

Ask the Editors

Word Games