Meanings
nounsuppletion (usually uncountable, plural suppletions)
plural suppletions
- uncountableusuallyThe supplying of something lacking.
- uncountableusuallygrammarThe use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking, e.g. using “to be able” as the infinitive of “can”, or “better” as the comparative of “good”, or “went” as the simple past of “go”.
- uncountableusuallygrammarMore loosely, the use of unrelated (or distantly related) words for semantically related words which may not share the same lexical category, such as father/paternal or cow/bovine, normally referred to as collateral adjectives.
Origin
- Latinsupplēre“to supply”
- GermanSuppletivwesen
- Englishsuppletion
From German Suppletivwesen, from Latin supplēre (“to supply”), perfect stem supplet-, + -ion.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan supleció
- supleció(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking
Chinese Mandarin 異干互補 /异干互补, 異干法
- 異干互補 /异干互补 (yìgànhùbǔ)(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking
- 異干法 (yìgànfǎ)(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking
- 補充法 /补充法 (bǔchōngfǎ)(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking
Dutch suppletie
- suppletie(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking
Finnish suppleetio, suppletivismi
- suppleetio(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking
- suppletivismi(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking
French supplétion, supplétisme
- supplétion(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking
- supplétisme(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking
German Suppletion, Suppletivismus
- Suppletion(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking
- Suppletivismus(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking
Hungarian szuppletivizmus, alakkiegészülés
- szuppletivizmus(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking
- alakkiegészülés(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking
- tőalakpótlás(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking
- tőcsere(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking
- tőváltás(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking
Irish ilfhréamhachas
- ilfhréamhachas(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking
Italian suppletivismo
- suppletivismo(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking
Japanese 補充形
- 補充形 (hojūkei)(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking
Korean 보충법
- 보충법 (bochungbeop)(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking
Latvian supletīvisms
- supletīvisms(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking
Lithuanian supletyvizmas
- supletyvizmas(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking
Norwegian Bokmål suppletivisme
- suppletivisme(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking
Polish uzupełnienie, supletywizm
- uzupełnieniethe supplying of something lacking
- supletywizm(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking
Portuguese supletismo
- supletismo(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking
Romanian supletivism
- supletivism(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking
Russian пополне́ние, восполне́ние
- пополне́ние (popolnénije)the supplying of something lacking
- восполне́ние (vospolnénije)the supplying of something lacking
- супплетиви́зм (suppletivízm)(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking
- супплети́вность (suppletívnostʹ)(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking
Spanish supleción, suplemento
- supleciónthe supplying of something lacking
- suplementothe supplying of something lacking
- supletismo(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking
- supleción(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking
- suplencia(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking
Tamil மாற்றுச்சொல்
- மாற்றுச்சொல் (māṟṟuccol)(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking
Ukrainian суплетивізм
- суплетивізм (supletyvizm)(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking
Welsh cyflenwad
- cyflenwadthe supplying of something lacking
Cite this entry
APA
suppletion. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/suppletion
MLA
“suppletion.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/suppletion. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “suppletion,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/suppletion.
Source: suppletion on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.