What is "dissimilation"

Dissimilation \Dis*sim`i*la"tion\, n. The act of making dissimilar.
--H. Sweet.

1874, noun of action from dissimilate.

n. 1 The act of dissimilate, of making dissimilar. 2 (context phonology English) A phenomenon whereby similar consonant or vowel sounds in a word become less similar, resulting in a form that is easier for the listener to perceive.

1. n. a linguistic process by which one of two similar sounds in a word becomes less like the other; "the Old French MARBRE became the English MARBLE by dissimilation"

2. breakdown of more complex substances into simpler ones with release of energy [syn: catabolism, katabolism, destructive metabolism] [ant: anabolism]

In phonology, particularly within historical linguistics, dissimilation is a phenomenon whereby similar consonants or vowels in a word become less similar. For example, when a sound occurs before another in the middle of a word in rhotic dialects of English, the first tends to drop out, as in "beserk" for berserk, "supprise" for surprise, "paticular" for particular, and "govenor" for governor – this does not affect the pronunciation of government, which has only one , but English government tends to be pronounced "goverment" , dropping out the first n.

An example where a relatively old case of phonetic dissimilation has been artificially undone in the spelling is English colonel, whose standard pronunciation is /kərnəl/ in English. It was formerly spelt coronel and is a borrowing from French coronnel, which arose as a result of dissimilation from Italian colonnello.