Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

melanism

/ˈmɛlənɪzəm/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.32 in modern English

Syllables: mel-a-nism
IPA: /ˈmɛlənɪzəm/

12

Scrabble Score

8

Letters

3

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Congenital abundance or excess of melanin pigmentation in the skin, hair, feathers and/or eyes, more than is typical for the species.

Countable; Uncountable

Etymology

From French mélanisme; by surface analysis, melan(o)- + -ism.

Origin

Source language: French

Word Breakdown

Root: mélanisme

Usage

Inflected Forms

melanisms (plural)

Derived Forms

acromelanism amelanism eumelanism hypermelanism

Frequently Paired Words

leucism leukism

Synonyms

melanosis

Antonyms

albinism albinoism

Questions

How do you pronounce melanism?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈmɛlənɪzəm/.
What does melanism mean?: Congenital abundance or excess of melanin pigmentation in the skin, hair, feathers and/or eyes, more than is typical for the species.
Where does melanism come from?: It is traced to French.

How to pronounce melanism

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “melanism”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈmɛlənɪzəm/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
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