rhotic

adjective

rho·​tic ˈrō-tik 

1

phonetics : of, relating to, having, or being an accent or dialect in English in which an /r/ sound is retained before consonants (as in pronouncing hard and cart) and at the end of a word (as in pronouncing car and far)

a rhotic dialect/accent

a rhotic speaker

Arguably one of the greatest divisions in English is between rhotic and non-rhotic accents, which is to say our speech and accents are immediately distinguishable based on the pronunciation, or lack thereof, of /r/-like sounds.

—Jordan MacKenzie

2

phonetics, of a vowel : influenced in coloring by an adjacent /r/ sound

rhoticity

rō-ˈti-sə-tē 

noun

The presence or absence of rhoticity usually provides an instant first indication of the regional speech of a given speaker.

—Robert Burchfield

Examples of rhotic in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Irish English is also rhotic, meaning the R is overpronounced. —Bernhard Warner, BostonGlobe.com, 1 July 2023

This is because Scooby’s rhotic replacement goes deeper than something like a lisp. —Kyle Hill, Discover Magazine, 11 Mar. 2014

Word History

Etymology

rhot- (in rhotacism or rhotacize) + -ic entry 1

First Known Use

1968, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing rhotic

• non-rhotic