Etymograph

English

syncope

Syncope comes from Ancient Greek συγκοπή ‘syncope, cutting a word short by striking out…’, from συγκόπτω ‘cut up’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kep-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)kep-1uncertain
  2. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*kopt͏̌ō1reconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκόπτω1kóptō‘to strike’
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEσυγκόπτω1sunkóptō‘cut up’
  5. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEσυγκοπή1sunkopḗ‘syncope, cutting a word short by striking out one or more letters’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsyncopē1
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1844syncope1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English syncope
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1844, Edgar Allan Poe: “Sometimes, without any apparent cause, I sank, little by…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)kep-Wiktionary, English syncopeuncertain
  2. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*kopt͏̌ōWiktionary, English syncopereconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκόπτωWiktionary, English syncopekóptō‘to strike’
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEσυγκόπτωWiktionary, English syncopesunkóptō‘cut up’
  5. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEσυγκοπήWiktionary, English syncopesunkopḗ‘syncope, cutting a word short by striking out one or more letters’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsyncopēWiktionary, English syncope
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1844syncopeWiktionary, English syncope. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1844, Edgar Allan Poe: “Sometimes, without any apparent cause, I sank, little by…”

The story

Partly continues the (near-)doublets syncopis and sincopin, both from the Old French sincopin (‘faintness’) (itself from Late Latin accusative syncopen), with the pathological meaning "a loss of consciousness accompanied by a weak pulse", attested from the fifteenth century. Usage in the form syncope, with the phonological meaning "contraction of a word by omission of middle sounds or letters" attested from the 1520s. Syncopis and sincopin were "re-Latinized" to the form syncope in English in the sixteenth century.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)kep-

shape, scoop, 3 more

through Ancient Greek κόπτω ‘to strike’

comma, 8 more

Today it means

noun The elision or loss of a sound from the interior of a word, especially of a vowel sound with loss of a syllable.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “syncope”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *(s)kep- / syncope

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