[b]→[f]Certainty: 5/5Commonality: 4/5

Grimm's Law Spirantization Lenition Germanic Italic

Voiced bilabial plosive to Voiceless labiodental fricative

The transformation of a voiced aspirated stop into a voiceless fricative is a core component of Grimm's Law for PIE *bh. In Germanic, PIE voiced aspirates became voiceless fricatives word-initially, exemplified by *bh > f.

Phonetic Effects

Spirantization, Lenition, Devoicing

Language Examples

Latin Italic

*bhre-→frater— PIE voiced aspirate *bh shifted to f in word-initial position.

*bheidh-→fido— PIE *bh shifted to f in word-initial position.

Old English Germanic

*sibun→seofon— Medial *b (pronounced [β]) shifted to f (pronounced [v]).

Related Transformations

Reverse Voiceless spirantization Spirantization without devoicing

More Germanic Shifts

[a] → [ã] — Assimilatory Nasalization [a] → [∅] — Elision [a] → [ʔ] — Glottalization [a] → [ə] — Vowel Reduction [æ] → [ɛ] — Vowel Raising

Sources & References

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