- syncopate (v.)
- c. 1600, "shorten words by omitting syllables or letters in the middle," back-formation from syncopation, or else from Late Latin syncopatus, past participle of syncopare "to shorten," also "to faint away, to swoon," from Late Latin syncope (see syncope). Musical sense is from 1660s. Related: Syncopated; syncopating.
