What is "haplography"

scribal error of writing only once a letter that should have been written twice; see haplo- + -graphy.

n. Accidental omission of a letter or letter group that should be repeated in writing, for example, ''mi'''s'''pell'' for ''mi'''ss'''pell''.

Haplography (from Greek: haplo- 'single' + -graphy 'writing') is the act of writing once what should be written twice. For example, the English word idolatry, the worship of idols, comes from the Greek eidololatreia, but one syllable has been lost through haplography. Other examples are "endontics" for " endodontics", and " voraphilia" for "vorarephilia".

There are various instances of conventionalized haplography in English. For example, the normal punctuation mark for a declarative sentence in English is a full stop. However, if a declarative sentence ends with a word that is abbreviated with a period (etc., Ltd., or Inc.), the sentence-final punctuation mark is omitted. This is clear by comparison with other sentence types, such as interrogative or exclamatory sentences, where the punctuation is not reduced at the end.

• Philip K. Dick wrote the novel Lies, Inc.

And then...

• Who wrote the novel Lies, Inc.?
• So, it was Philip K. Dick who wrote the novel Lies, Inc.!