postvocalic
|post-vo-cal-ic|
🇺🇸
/ˌpoʊstˈvoʊkəlɪk/
🇬🇧
/ˌpəʊstˈvəʊkəlɪk/
after a vowel
Etymology
'postvocalic' originates from Latin, specifically the prefix 'post-' meaning 'after' and the adjective 'vocalic' from Latin 'vocalis' meaning 'vocal' (from 'vox' meaning 'voice').
'postvocalic' was formed in English by combining the prefix 'post-' with the adjective 'vocalic' (from Latin 'vocalis'); the compound arose in modern linguistic and phonetic terminology (19th–20th century) to describe sounds occurring after vowels.
Initially it meant 'occurring after a vowel', and this technical meaning has remained essentially unchanged in phonetics.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Adjective 1
occurring or situated after a vowel (in a word or syllable); said especially of a consonant that follows a vowel.
In phonetics, a postvocalic consonant is one that comes immediately after a vowel, as the /t/ in 'cat'.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Last updated: 2025/10/06 22:05