pin-pen merger

noun

A phonemic merger where the vowels in "pin" and "pen" are pronounced the same before /n/ and /m/, making "pin" and "pen" homophones.

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Meanings

noun
  1. human sciencesA phonemic merger where the vowels in "pin" and "pen" are pronounced the same before /n/ and /m/, making "pin" and "pen" homophones.

    Before we get to those, however, let us consider how we might discover a vowel merger taking place (and most work in this area has been on vowel merger or on conditioned vowel mergers, such as the pin–pen merger in the US south or the pool–pull merger in Utah, discussed below).

    2011, Scott F. Kiesling, Linguistic Variation and Change, page 141
Cite this entry
APA

pin-pen merger. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pin-pen%20merger

MLA

“pin-pen merger.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pin-pen%20merger. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pin-pen merger,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pin-pen%20merger.

Source: pin-pen merger on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.