syncope
n
1 [U, C] (medical 医) brief loss of consciousness; faint(ing) 晕厥.
2 [U] (linguistics 语言) shortening of a word by omitting one or more letters or syllables in the middle, eg `bosun´ for `boatswain´ 词中省音, 央字失落, 央音失落(省略词中的字母或音节, 如将 boatswain 略为 bosun).