Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
adjective
- (of a word) closely connected in pronunciation with the preceding word and not having an independent accent or phonological status.
noun
- an enclitic word, as Latin que “and” in arma virumque, “arms and the man.”
adjective
-
- denoting or relating to a monosyllabic word or form that is treated as a suffix of the preceding word, as Latin -que in populusque
- (in classical Greek) denoting or relating to a word that throws an accent back onto the preceding word
noun
- an enclitic word or linguistic form
1650s (adj.); 1660s (n.), from Late Latin encliticus, from Greek enklitikos “throwing its accent back,” literally “leaning on,” from verbal adjectival stem of enklinein “to bend, lean on,” from en (see en- (2)) + klinein “to lean” (see lean (v.)).