Meanings
- not comparablehuman sciencesPronounced longer and considered as being doubled.
For example, Martin (2007) notes that compounds in several languages (including English and Turkish) violate the general phonological principles in the language (e.g., English only allows geminate consonants in compounds).
2008, Sara Finley, Review of “The Representation and Processing of Compound Words”Synonyms: geminated
present singular third person geminates · participle present geminating · participle past geminated · past geminated
plural geminates
- human sciencesA doubled or repeated letter or speech sound.
The attested forms show variation in the unstressed vowels (Srd. lèppere, lèpporo, lèppore, léppuri etc.) but agree on the labial geminate. We can thus reconstruct *leppVr-.
2025, Cid Swanenvleugel, The Pre-Roman Elements of the Sardinian Lexicon, page 405
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivePronounced longer and considered as being doubled.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latingeminātus
- Englishgeminate
First attested in 1589; borrowed from Latin geminātus, perfect passive participle of geminō (“to double”), see -ate (etymology 1,2 and 3).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic مُشَدَّد, مُضَعَّف
- مُشَدَّد (mušaddad)phonology
- مُضَعَّف (muḍaʕʕaf)phonology
Bulgarian двоен, удвоявам
- двоен (dvoen)forming a pair
- удвоявам (udvojavam)to arrange in pairs
Catalan geminar, geminat
- geminarforming a pair
- geminatphonology
Dutch paarwijze, gepaard
- paarwijzeforming a pair
- gepaardforming a pair
- parento arrange in pairs
- in paren ordenento arrange in pairs
- paarwijze voorkomento occur in pairs
- geminaatdoubled sound
Finnish pareittain esiintyvä, kahdentunut
- pareittain esiintyväforming a pair
- kahdentunutphonology
- geminoitunutphonology
- parittaato arrange in pairs
- yhdistääto arrange in pairs
- järjestää pareiksito arrange in pairs
- esiintyä pareittainto occur in pairs
- geminaattadoubled sound
- kaksoiskonsonanttidoubled sound
French gémine, géminée
- gémineforming a pair
- géminéephonology
- géminéedoubled sound
Greek όμοιος
- όμοιος (ómoios)phonology
Japanese 促音
- 促音 (sokuon)doubled sound
Polish geminata
- geminatadoubled sound
Russian удво́енный, гемини́рованный
- удво́енный (udvójennyj)forming a pair
- гемини́рованный (geminírovannyj)phonology
- удва́ивать (udváivatʹ)to arrange in pairs
- удво́ить (udvóitʹ)to arrange in pairs
- гемина́та (gemináta)doubled sound
Spanish geminado
- geminadophonology
Swedish geminerad, fördubblad
- gemineradphonology
- fördubbladphonology
- geminatadoubled sound
Cite this entry
geminate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/geminate
“geminate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/geminate. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “geminate,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/geminate.
Source: geminate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.