inflection

English

Alternative forms

• inflexion

Etymology

From older inflexion, borrowed from Middle French inflexion, itself borrowed from Latin inflexiōnem (“alteration”, literally “bending”). The English spelling with ⟨ct⟩ is due to influence from inflect or related words like correction.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈflɛkʃən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛkʃən
• Hyphenation: in‧flec‧tion

Noun

inflection (countable and uncountable, plural inflections)

1. (grammar, uncountable) Change in the form of a word (morphologic change) to express different grammatical categories.

   In English, word order often does the work that inflection did in Latin

2. (grammar, countable) An instance of such change.

   an inflection for gender, number, or tense

   1. (grammar) An affix representing such an instance.

      English's regular inflection for number in plural nouns is the suffix -s.

3. (grammar, countable) Any form produced by such an instance of a change, such as the principal parts for any given stem: any of the declined or conjugated forms that constitute its declension or conjugation.

   Recite every inflection for each of these words.

4. A change in pitch or tone of voice.

   If he's lying, his inflection changes.

5. (mathematics) A change in curvature from concave to convex or from convex to concave.
6. A turning away from a straight course.

   inflection from the rules

7. (optometry) Diffraction.

Synonyms

• flection, flexion

Hyponyms

• (grammar): conjugation
• (grammar): comparison
• (grammar): declension, declination

Related terms

• inflect
• inflected

Translations

change in the form of a word that reflects a change in grammatical function

• Albanian: eptim (sq)
• Armenian: թեքում (hy) (tʻekʻum)
• Bashkir: килеш менән үҙгәреү (kileş menən üźgərew)
• Bulgarian: склонение n (sklonenie)
• Catalan: flexió f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 詞形變化／词形变化, 词形变化 (cí xíng biànhuà)

• Czech: flexe f, ohýbání (cs) n
• Danish: ^{(please verify)} bøjning (da)
• Dutch: verbuiging (nl) f, vervoeging (nl) f
• Finnish: taivutus (fi)
• French: flexion (fr) f, inflexion (fr) f
• Georgian: ფლექსია (pleksia), მიმოხრა (mimoxra), მოღუნვა (moɣunva)
• German: Flexion (de) f, Beugung (de) f, Biegung (de) f
• Greek:

  Classical: κλίσις f (klísis), κίνημα n (kínēma), κίνησις f (kínēsis)

  Modern: κλίση (el) f (klísi)

• Hungarian: (the ending itself) rag (hu), (the phenomenon) ragozás (hu)
• Icelandic: beyging (is) f
• Indonesian: infleksi (id)
• Italian: desinenza (it) f, flessione (it) f
• Japanese: 語形変化 (ごけいへんか, gokei henka)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Korean: 굴절(屈折) (ko) (guljeol), 어형변화(語形變化) (eohyeongbyeonhwa)
• Latin: flexio f, flexura (la) f
• Latvian: locīšana f
• Malagasy: fihilan-teny
• Manx: yn-filley m
• Mongolian: хувирал (mn) (xuviral)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bøyning m or f, bøying (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: bøying f

• Old English: ġebīeġednes f
• Persian: تصریف (fa) (tasrīf)
• Polish: odmiana (pl) f
• Portuguese: flexão (pt) f
• Romanian: flexiune (ro) f
• Russian: фле́ксия (ru) f (fléksija) (formal), оконча́ние (ru) n (okončánije) (formal), словоизмене́ние (ru) n (slovoizmenénije), измене́ние фо́рмы сло́ва n (izmenénije fórmy slóva)
• Serbo-Croatian: fleksija (sh) f
• Slovak: ohýbanie
• Spanish: flexión (es) f
• Swedish: böjning (sv) c
• Tagalog: sabaylo
• Tajik: оҳанг (tg) (ohang)
• Ukrainian: словозмі́на f (slovozmína)

change in pitch or tone of voice

• Bulgarian: модулация f (modulacija)
• Catalan: inflexió f
• Danish: modulation
• Finnish: äänenkorkeuden muutos (of pitch), äänensävyn muutos (of tone)
• German: Betonung (de) f
• Icelandic: raddblær m
• Italian: inflessione (it) f, cadenza (it) f, calata (it) f, modulazione (it) f, intonazione (it) f
• Mongolian: ялгаллахуй (jalgallaxuj)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Polish: modulacja f
• Portuguese: inflexão (pt) f, entonação f
• Romanian: inflexiune (ro) f
• Russian: модуля́ция (ru) f (moduljácija)
• Serbo-Croatian: infleksija (sh) f
• Spanish: inflexión (es) f

change in curvature from concave to convex or from convex to concave

• Finnish: käänne (fi)
• Greek: κάμψη (el) f (kámpsi), λύγισμα (el) n (lýgisma)
• Hungarian: inflexió (hu)
• Italian: inflessione (it) f
• Manx: aachassey m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: inflexão (pt) f
• Romanian: inflexiune (ro) f
• Russian: переги́б (ru) n (peregíb), сгиба́ние (ru) n (sgibánije), (medical) фле́ксия (ru) f (fléksija)
• Serbo-Croatian: infleksija (sh) f
• Swedish: inflexionspunkt (sv) c

turning away from a straight course

• Armenian: թեքում (hy) (tʻekʻum)
• Bulgarian: отклонение (bg) n (otklonenie)
• Danish: afvigelse
• Dutch: bocht (nl)
• Finnish: suunnanmuutos
• French: inflexion (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Manx: lhoobey m
• Old English: ġebīeġednes f
• Portuguese: inflexão (pt) f, desvio (pt) m
• Russian: отклоне́ние (ru) n (otklonénije)
• Serbo-Croatian: otklon (sh) m
• Spanish: inflexión (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Danish: vendepunkt
• Dutch: buigpunt (nl) n
• French: point d’inflexion (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: Wendepunkt (de) m
• Spanish: punto de inflexión (es)
• Welsh: ^{(please verify)} treiglad m