Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

suppletion

/səˈpliːʃən/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English

Syllables
sup-ple-tion
IPA
/səˈpliːʃən/
14
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
3
Syllables
9
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

The supplying of something lacking.

Uncountable

noun

The use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking, e.g. using “to be able” as the infinitive of “can”, or “better” as the comparative of “good”, or “went” as the simple past of “go”.

Uncountable

noun

More loosely, the use of unrelated (or distantly related) words for semantically related words which may not share the same lexical category, such as father/paternal or cow/bovine, normally referred to as collateral adjectives.

Uncountable

Etymology

From German Suppletivwesen, from Latin supplēre (“to supply”), perfect stem supplet-, + -ion.

Origin

Word Breakdown

  • Root: Suppletivwesen, supplēre

Usage

Inflected Forms

suppletions (plural)

Frequently Paired Words

supplement supplementary suppletive supply noncognate supplementation repletion completion

Questions

How do you pronounce suppletion?
The recorded pronunciation is /səˈpliːʃən/.
What does suppletion mean?
The supplying of something lacking.
Where does suppletion come from?
It is traced to German.

How to pronounce suppletion

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “suppletion”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/səˈpliːʃən/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “suppletion”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “suppletion” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.