Aphesis Definition

ăfĭ-sĭs

apheses

noun

The loss of an initial, usually unstressed vowel from a word, as in cute from acute.

American Heritage

Loss of a short unaccented vowel at the beginning of a word, a form of apheresis (Ex.: squire for esquire)

Webster's New World

(linguistics, prosody) The loss of the initial unstressed vowel of a word.

The word "scarp" is derived from "escarp" by aphesis.

Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Aphesis

Singular:

aphesis

Plural:

apheses

From Ancient Greek ἄφεσις (áphesis, “letting go”), from ἀφίημι (aphíēmi) , from ἀπό (apó, “off”) + ἵημι (híēmi, “send forth”).

From Wiktionary
Greek a release from aphīenai aphe- to let go apo- apo- hīenai to send diesis

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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