metátese
Portuguese, noun/meˈta.te.zi/
metátese is spelled M-E-T-Á-T-E-S-E (8 letters) and appears about once in every 69 million words in written Portuguese, the 229,473rd most frequent Portuguese word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Metátese is a Portuguese feminine noun meaning “surgical operation that consists of moving from one place to another, where the cause or seat of a disease is less harmful” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) defines it as “troca de lugar de fonemas ou sílabas dentro de uma palavra, atraídos ou repelidos por outros fonemas (por…”.
What does metátese mean in English?
noun
- 1
femininesurgical operation that consists of moving from one place to another, where the cause or seat of a disease is less harmful
- 2
femininetransposition of the terms of a reasoning, from which a consequence is deduced
- 3
femininephonetic phenomenon that consists of the transposition of phonemes or syllables within the same word
Source: English Wiktionary, Portuguese section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Portuguese dictionaries define it
noun: 1. troca de lugar de fonemas ou sílabas dentro de uma palavra, atraídos ou repelidos por outros fonemas (por exemplo, atanazar > atazanar; víbora > bívora) 2. mudança de posição dos termos em um enunciado 3. operação que consiste em transferir o foco de uma doença para outro local onde seja inofensivo ou menos danoso
The definition in the Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário), in Portuguese.
Source: Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of metátese
- metáteses plural
Source: English Wiktionary and Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce metátese?
- Brazil /meˈta.te.zi/
- Portugal /mɨˈta.tɨ.zɨ/
- Brazil /meˈta.te.ze/ (Região Sul)
Sources: English Wiktionary, Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to metátese
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is metátese in Portuguese?
metátese appears about once in every 69 million words in written Portuguese.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).