Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A specialist in orthoepy, especially one of a number of scholars of the 1500s and 1600s who proposed reforms of English spelling so that it would more systematically reflect pronunciation.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun One who is skilled in orthoëpy; one who writes on orthoëpy.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun One who is skilled in orthoëpy.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun someone who studies the way
words are pronounced
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a practitioner of orthoepy (especially one of the 17th or 18th century scholars who proposed to reform English spelling so it would reflect pronunciation more closely)
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
The word orthoepist has been adopted in honor of Charles Harrington Elster (1957-2023). Help support Wordnik by adopting your own word here.
Examples
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It is doubtful whether on the day he died, he left a more perfect orthoepist living behind him.
The Mirror of Taste, and Dramatic Censor, Vol. I, No. 5, May 1810
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To the correct orthoepist, several persons on the stage give offence in the pronunciation of the pronoun possessive MY -- speaking it in all cases with the full open Y, as it would rhyme to _fly_, which should only be when it is put in contradistinction to _thy_ or _his_, or any other pronoun possessive: in all other cases it should be sounded like _me_.
The Mirror of Taste, and Dramatic Censor Vol I, No. 2, February 1810 Samuel James Arnold 1813
wytukaze commented on the word orthoepist
“The dictionary proper incorporated often very substantial notes about words on whose pronunciations opinions were divided, frequently quoting a dozen or so other “orthoepists�? (an awkward, now fortunately largely discarded, word offered as pronounced /`ɔ�?θəʊepɪsts/ etc by the dictionaries) in doing so.�?
Jack Windsor Lewis, in the blog entry “John Walker�? (2009-4-18).
March 19, 2009
ruzuzu commented on the word orthoepist
Check it out: "An orthoepist, in case you’re wondering, is a pronunciation expert, specifically someone who studies correct pronunciation (Greek orthos, right, correct + epos, word) and who issues opinions about how words are properly or improperly spoken."
- Charles Harrington Elster, Wordnik’s new orthoepist, from the blog.
June 18, 2010
fbharjo commented on the word orthoepist
Can this be right? Can this be left? Can this be nounced?
May 5, 2011
MaryW commented on the word orthoepist
Bryan A. Garner, "Is your pronunciation on point? Take this quiz to find out," <i>ABA Journal,</i> Nov. 2015, http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/is_your_pronunciation_on_point_take_this_quiz_to_find_out/November 6, 2015