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aposiopesis
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Pronunciation: æ-pê-sai-ê-pee-sis • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: A sudden breaking off of a thought in mid sentence, as though the speaker were unwilling or unable to continue.
Notes: Have you ever begun a sentence and, halfway through, suddenly realize you shouldn't be uttering it? When you stop speaking and change the subject, you have committed aposiopesis. The plural, like all Latin borrowings ending in -sis, is aposiopeses. The adjective is aposiopetic and the adverb, aposiopetically.
In Play: Some adages are so familiar, repeating them in toto is unnecessary, so we often say things like, "Early to bed, early to rise . . . ", omitting "makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise." That is aposiopesis. It is aposiopesis even if we replace the omitted material with a bland substitute such as, "Marjorie, your new dress is so . . . well, interesting." Clearly, the real sense the speaker wishes to express is being withheld. Again, aposiopesis.
Word History: English essentially confiscated this word whole from Late Latin aposiopesis. The Romans picked up the word from Greek aposiopaein "to become silent", made up of apo- "off, away", but here, an intensive prefix meaning "very" or "suddenly" + siopaein "to be silent", a verb built from siope "silence". The Greeks inherited the word from a Proto-Indo-European word swi- "fade, weaken" that may have also become Old English swigian "be silent" and Modern German schweigen "be silent" with a different suffix, a -g instead of a -p. (We cannot be silent any longer; we must thank Katy Brezger for suggesting today's word.)
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