inflection

English

Alternative forms

• inflexion (UK)

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)

2. (grammar, uncountable) The linguistic phenomenon of morphological variation, whereby terms take a number of distinct forms in order to express different grammatical features.

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

   1. (countable) Any specific type of morphological variation, which applies to a given class of terms.

      The second-person imperative is a verbal inflection found in many Indo-European languages.

   2. (countable) An affix representing a given variation.

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

   3. (countable) Any specific morphological form of a particular term, 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.

3. A change in pitch or tone of voice.
4. (mathematics) A change in curvature from concave to convex or from convex to concave.
5. A turning away from a straight course.

   inflection from the rules

6. (optometry) Diffraction.

Synonyms

• flection, flexion

Hyponyms

(grammar):

• comparison
• conjugation
• declension
• declination
• desinential inflection

Derived terms

• inflectional
• inflectionless
• inflection point (point of inflection)
• overinflection
• transflection

Related terms

• inflect
• inflected

Translations

variation in the form of a word that reflects grammatical features

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

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

• Czech: flexe (cs) f, ohýbání (cs) n
• Danish: ^{(please verify)} bøjning (da)
• Dutch: flexie (nl) f
• Esperanto: fleksio
• Finnish: taivutus (fi)
• French: flexion (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)

• Hindi: विभक्ति (hi) f (vibhakti)
• 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 (ja) (ごけいへんか, gokei henka)
• 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) (tasrif)
• Polish: odmiana (pl) f, fleksja (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)
• Welsh: ffurfdro m, ffurfdroad m

change in pitch or tone of voice

• Bulgarian: модулация f (modulacija)
• Catalan: inflexió f
• Danish: modulation (da)
• 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)
• Polish: modulacja f
• Portuguese: inflexão (pt) f, entonação (pt) f
• Romanian: inflexiune (ro) f
• Russian: модуля́ция (ru) f (moduljácija)
• Serbo-Croatian: infleksija (sh) f
• Spanish: inflexión (es) f
• Ukrainian: модуляція (uk) m (moduljacija), зміна інтонації m (zmina intonaciji)

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
• 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
• Ukrainian: перегин m (perehyn)

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)
• 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)
• German: Wendepunkt (de) m
• Spanish: punto de inflexión (es)
• Welsh: ^{(please verify)} treiglad m

Further reading

• inflection on Wikipedia.Wikipedia