Standard Lemma guide

lenition

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /lɪˈnɪʃən/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ləˈnɪʃən/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /liːˈnɪʃən/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ləˈnɪʃən/
  • General-American: /liˈnɪʃən/

1

noun

Meaning 1

A weakening of articulation causing a consonant to become lenis (soft).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, phonetics, phonology, sciences

Examples

  • 2008, Krzysztof Jaskula, Celtic, Joaquim Brandão de Carvalho, Tobias Scheer, Philippe Ségéral (editors), Lenition and Fortition, Studies in Generative Grammar: 99, page 347, As for Goidelic languages, the situation is clearer because Lenition III in this subfamily consisted in losing the same property as the first two lenitions, namely stopness.
  • 2011, Naomi Gurevich, 66: Lenition, Marc van Oostendorp, Colin J. Ewen, Elizabeth V. Hume, Keren Rice (editors), The Blackwell Companion to Phonology, Volume III: Phonological Processes, page 1573, Five general patterns of lenitions – all based to some extent on empirical data – are identified.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: fortition

History

Etymology

Analyzable as lenis + -ition, or as if from Latin lēnīt(us) + -ion, or Latin lēnītiō (“softening”) from lēniō (“soften”) + -tiō (action noun suffix) (attested since at least the 1500s, the same timeframe lenition is first attested in English with the sense "assuaging"). Modelled on German Lenierung.

Across languages

Translations

44 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Asturian: lenición — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Breton: blotadur — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Catalan: lenició — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Chinese Mandarin: 輔音弱化 /辅音弱化 (yǔyīn ruòhuà) — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Chinese Mandarin: 弱音化 (ruòyīnhuà) — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Cornish: treylyans medhel — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Dutch: lenitie — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Dutch: verzachting — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Finnish: pehmeneminen — weakening of consonant articulation
  • French: lénition — weakening of consonant articulation
  • French: adoucissement — weakening of consonant articulation
  • French: mutation adoucissante — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Galician: lenición — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Georgian: ლენიცია (lenicia) — weakening of consonant articulation
  • German: Lenierung — weakening of consonant articulation
  • German: Lenisierung — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Hebrew: החלשות עיצורים (hekhalshút itsurím) — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Hungarian: gyengülés — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Hungarian: gyöngülés — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Hungarian: mássalhangzó-gyengülés — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Hungarian: leníció — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Irish: séimhiú — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Italian: lenizione — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Italian: mutazione dolce — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Japanese: 子音弱化 (shiin jakka) — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Korean: 연음화 (yeoneumhwa) — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Latin: lenitio — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Manx: boggaghys — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Norwegian: lenisering — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Norwegian: lenisjon — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Polish: lenicja — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Portuguese: lenização — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Portuguese: lenição — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Russian: лени́ция (lenícija) — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Sardinian: lenitzione — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Scottish Gaelic: analachadh — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Scottish Gaelic: sèimheachadh — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Sicilian: linizziuni — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Spanish: lenición — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Spanish: lenificación — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Turkish: yumuşama — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Vietnamese: lơi hóa — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Welsh: meddaliad — weakening of consonant articulation
  • Welsh: meddalu — weakening of consonant articulation