What is "synalepha"

Synalepha \Syn`a*le"pha\, n. [NL., fr. L. synaloepha, Gr. ?, from ? to melt together; sy`n with + ? to besmear.] (Gram.) A contraction of syllables by suppressing some vowel or diphthong at the end of a word, before another vowel or diphthong; as, th' army, for the army. [Written also synal[oe]pha.]

n. 1 The suppression of a vowel at the end of word when it is followed by another word beginning with a vowel. 2 The melding into a single syllable of two vowels from two different syllables.

A synalepha or synaloepha is the merging of two syllables into one, especially when it causes two words to be pronounced as one.

The original meaning in Ancient Greek is more general than modern usage and includes coalescence of vowels within a word. Similarly, synalepha most often refers to elision (as in English contraction), but it can also refer to coalescence by other metaplasms: synizesis, synaeresis or crasis.