geminate

/'dʤeminit - 'dʤemineit/

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Word: Geminate

Part of Speech: Noun and Verb

Definition:

• As a noun: A geminate refers to a consonant that is doubled or pronounced for a longer duration. For example, in the word "thinness," the n is a geminate because it appears twice in a row.

• As a verb: To geminate means to arrange or combine things in pairs, particularly when talking about consonants in language. It can also refer to repeating a sound or letter to emphasize it.

Usage Instructions:

• When using geminate as a noun, you are usually discussing language, pronunciation, or phonetics.
• As a verb, you would use it when talking about the process of doubling consonants or creating pairs.

Examples:

• Noun: "In the word 'happiness,' the double is a geminate."
• Verb: "In linguistics, we sometimes geminate consonants to create a specific sound effect."

Advanced Usage:

In more advanced linguistic discussions, gemination can also refer to a phonological phenomenon where a consonant is pronounced with greater length or emphasis, which can change the meaning of words in some languages.

Word Variants:

• Gemination (noun): The act of geminating; the process of doubling a consonant.

Different Meaning:

In a broader sense, outside of linguistics, geminate can mean to duplicate or reproduce something in pairs.

Synonyms:

• For the noun form: Double consonant, long consonant.
• For the verb form: Pair, duplicate, double.

Related Idioms and Phrasal Verbs:

While there are no direct idioms or phrasal verbs that include geminate, related concepts in linguistics might use terms like "double up" to mean to repeat or pair something similarly.

Summary:

In summary, geminate is an important term in linguistics that describes a doubled consonant sound and the act of pairing items, especially in pronunciation.

Academic

Noun

1. a doubled or long consonant
   • the `n' in `thinness' is a geminate

Verb

1. arrange or combine in pairs
   • The consonants are geminated in these words
2. arrange in pairs
   • Pair these numbers
3. occur in pairs
4. form by reduplication
   • The consonant reduplicates after a short vowel
   • The morpheme can be reduplicated to emphasize the meaning of the word

Synonyms

• pair
• reduplicate