aphesis

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: aph=e=sis

CIDE DICTIONARY

aphesis, n. [Gr. a letting go; + to let go.].

 The loss of a short unaccented vowel at the beginning of a word; -- the result of a phonetic process; as, squire for esquire.  New Eng. Dict.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

aphesis, n. (pl. apheses) the gradual loss of an unstressed vowel at the beginning of a word (e.g. of e from esquire to form squire).

Derivative

aphetic adj. aphetically adv.

Etymology

Gk, = letting go (as APO-, hiemi send)