Succinct

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Succinct

Postby Dr. Goodword » Sat Nov 27, 2021 7:08 pm

• succinct •


Pronunciation: sêk-singktHear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: 1. Tight, close-fitting, tightly wound around. 2. Terse, concise; short and to the point.

Notes: When two Cs occur back to back, the first is pronounced hard [k], the second, soft [s] if followed by either I or E. It occurs in many other words, such as access, accident, and vaccine. Before other vowels, they are usually pronounced like a single K: occasion,account, occur. The adverb for today's word is succinctly and the noun, succinctness. It is good to speak succinctly, which is to say, with succinctness.

In Play: The original meaning of today's Good Word is, alas, slowly fading from our vocabularies: "Her lustrous hair was wound around her head in succinct coils." She might also have been wearing a succinct dress if it fitted tightly. I think we should hang on to this sense of the word. Of course, we should also keep the current meaning in mind since it instructs us how to speak and write: "Fiona's succinct reply, 'Drop dead', left Wendell with the impression that she simply was not interested in what he had to say."

Word History: Middle English succincte "girded" came directly from Old French, which inherited it from Latin succinctus, the past participle of succingere "to gird from underneath". This verb is made from sub "under, below" + cingere "to gird". The semantic connection here is in tightening up; tightening up our speech and writing makes it more succinct. English later borrowed the Spanish derivation of this same stem, cincha "saddle girth", to refer to the belt that holds a saddle on a horse, the cinch (belt). Making the cinch tight guarantees the security of the saddle, hence the metaphorical meaning of cinch is "a sure thing". (It is always a cinch that the words G. N. Bludworth suggests are as intriguing as this one, which he succinctly recommended for today's Good Word.)
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David Myer
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Re: Succinct

Postby David Myer » Sat Dec 04, 2021 7:36 am

Not terribly relevant but at junior school I learned that "Nothing succeeds like a toothless budgerigar".

I do love the rule:

Double CC before I or E, is pronounced ks (or x?)

Double CC before A, O or U, is pronounced k

A neat rule that seems to work happily, but one I have never contemplated or been taught or even thought about. We just know by experience from a very early age. What a difficult language it is for foreign speakers.

It is a little like the 'rule' for sequencing multiple adjectives. We generally just get it right without ever even knowing there is a rule. In that case though, I suspect the rule was created after the sequence had been established in practice.

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Slava
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Re: Succinct

Postby Slava » Sat Dec 04, 2021 10:36 am

I know that x is often said to be the same as ks, but here, at least, it isn't. Unless we accept that a letter can be broken in two, that is. If it were written with an x, suxinct, it would be pronounced sucks-inked. The k and the s sounds are distinct here, however.

Are there CC before I or E words that don't break the sound into two parts?

BTW-wouldn't double CC be CCCC? :wink:
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Re: Succinct

Postby Audiendus » Sat Dec 04, 2021 12:23 pm

I know that x is often said to be the same as ks, but here, at least, it isn't. Unless we accept that a letter can be broken in two, that is. If it were written with an x, suxinct, it would be pronounced sucks-inked. The k and the s sounds are distinct here, however.
How do you pronounce -xc- ? Do you pronounce the full 'x' followed by a distinct 's' sound? Does the position of the stress make a difference (e.g. except, excellent)?
Are there CC before I or E words that don't break the sound into two parts?
flaccid
cappuccino

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Slava
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Re: Succinct

Postby Slava » Sat Dec 04, 2021 5:58 pm

Except and Excellent are ek-se, unless one is intentionally stressing the EX.

Flaccid is often pronounced flak-sid. And cappuccino is Italian, so I'm not sure it counts. Dictionary.com gives this as the Italian pronunciation of the relevant section, poot-chee, which gives the two cs different values.
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Re: Succinct

Postby Philip Hudson » Sat Dec 04, 2021 7:26 pm

Such a long dissertation on the succinctness of succinct.
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