Aphaerema

Aphaerema (plural: Aphaeremata) is a rhetorical term referring to the deliberate removal or omission of a letter or syllable from the beginning of a word. It is a type of aphesis, which is the general loss of an initial sound or syllable. Aphaerema is typically done for metrical reasons, stylistic effect, or colloquial usage.

It is important to distinguish aphaerema from apocope, which is the deletion of a letter or syllable at the end of a word, and syncope, which is the deletion of a letter or syllable from the middle of a word. Unlike prothesis, which adds a sound or syllable to the beginning of a word, aphaerema removes one.

Examples of aphaerema can be found across various languages and historical periods. In common speech, clipped forms of words often arise through aphaerema and become accepted as standard usage.