WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026
rho•ta•cism
(rō′tə siz′əm),USA pronunciation n.
rho′ta•cis′tic, adj.
- Linguistics[Historical Ling.]a change of a speech sound, esp. (s), to (r), as in the change from Old Latin lases to Latin lares.
- Phoneticsexcessive use of the sound (r), its misarticulation, or the substitution of another sound for it.
- Greek rhô rho + (io)tacism
- 1825–35
'rhotacism' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):