lengthening

English

Etymology

From lengthen +‎ -ing.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈlɛŋ(k)θənɪŋ/, /ˈlɛŋ(k)θnɪŋ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈlɛŋ(k)θənɪŋ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛŋkθənɪŋ
• Hyphenation: length‧en‧ing

Noun

lengthening (plural lengthenings)

1. The process of making or growing longer.
   • 2021 September 22, “National Rail Awards 2021: Train Lengthening”, in RAIL, number 940, page 56:

     This enabled an additional 15-20 containers to be carried per train, giving a 20% productivity gain, and was partly enabled by Network Rail completing the lengthening of loops on the route northwards from Southampton via Banbury.

2. (phonology) a type of sound change when a sound (especially a vowel) lengthens

Derived terms

• compensatory lengthening

Translations

sound change

• Finnish: pidentyminen (fi)
• French: allongement (fr)
• Galician: alongamento (gl) m
• German: Längung (de) f
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: ἐπέκτασις (epéktasis)

• Hungarian: nyúlás (hu)
• Japanese: 延長 (ja) (えんちょう, enchō)

Verb

lengthening

1. present participle and gerund of lengthen