APHÆRESIS, in Grammar, a figure by which a letter or syllable is cut off from the beginning of a word. Thus conia, by aphæresis, is written conia; contemnere, temnere; omittere, mittere, &c.

A like retrenchment at the end of a word is called apocope.

APHÆRESIS, in Medicine, denotes a necessary taking away or removal of something that is noxious.—In surgery, it signifies an operation whereby something superfluous is taken away.