| anaptyxis |
| Definition: The inserting of vowels between consonants to make a word easier to pronounce. |
| Example: Pronouncing the word grievous ('gree - vous) as gree - vee' - ous. |
| Etymology: It means "opening" or "unfolding" in Greek. |
| OED: Its first citation is from 1895: "Anaptyxis … the development of a vowel between two consonants." (P. Giles, Manual of Comparative Philology, 169) |