diphthongy

comparative more diphthongy · superlative most diphthongy

1. informalHaving the quality of a diphthong.

   American vowels tend to be very impure and diphthongy; you do NOT want this sound in your Italian or Latin.

   1990 January 9, Roger Lustig, “Second rate composers (was Re: Tchiakovsky)”, in rec.music.classical (Usenet)

   3 more examples

   This ghost is the only other person besides Neyeurme who can say it correctly because it has all these diphthongy tongue-strangling nuances to it.

   1971, James Leo Herlihy, Season of the Witch, RosettaBooks, →ISBN

   You could see Oliver brightening up at the sight of that æ. He – keen on diphthongy things – really liked words with ligatures. Julius Cæsar!

   2006, Peter Rushforth, A Dead Language, London: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN

   I thought it was a sort of weird diphthongy vowel, almost like the French "dure" (hard) crossed with "do-er" -- very distinctive in a hard-to-pin-down way.

   2007 March 4, SMC, “Just heard”, in rec.arts.mystery (Usenet)

   Synonyms: diphthongic, diphthongal