Question:
What is the correct term for the omission of a final syllable, sound or letter in a word? For example, in “a cup o’ tea” where the “f” is dropped.

Answer:
Apocope
n. The loss of one or more sounds, letter or syllable from the end
of a word.

Elision is more general as a term and refers to any leaving out of sounds especially in rapid speech: plice for police, nex day for next day, mash potatoes for mashed potatoes, gonna for going to and wanna for want to.

The “opposite” of apocope is aphaeresis: the omission of a syllable, sound or letter at the beginning of a word and Syncope is the loss of sounds from within a word.

Here are the winning names that were drawn from the 31% of respondents who answered correctly:

– Kathya Carranza, Law Offices of Howard Rutten, Beverly Hills, CA

– Ginny Gaulter, Burnham Brown, Oakland, CA

– Lora Beth Bland, Fulkerson & Kinkel, Lexington, KY

– Yvonne Navarro, Sedgwick, Detert, Moran and Arnold, Los Angeles, CA

Congratulations!