iambic shortenings

A form of iambic shortening — In Latin, the shortening of an etymologically long final vowel, in a two-syllable word where the first vowel is also short. It tended to persist in uninflected words like bene, but was levelled out in favour of inflectional regularity in other words.

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Meanings

noun
  1. pluralplural of iambic shortening.
Cite this entry
APA

iambic shortenings. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/iambic%20shortenings

MLA

“iambic shortenings.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/iambic%20shortenings. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “iambic shortenings,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/iambic%20shortenings.

Source: iambic shortenings on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.