Syllabicate

Pronunciation

• UK enPR: sÄ­lăʹbÄ­kāt, IPA: /sɪˈlabáµ»keɪt/

Origin

First attested in 1654; back-formation from syllabication.

Full definition of syllabicate

Verb

1. to syllabify
• 1654, Joseph Brookbank, Plain, brief, and pertinent Rules for the judicious and artificial Syllabication of all English Words, page 27To Syllabicate, which is to find out a word by its syllables.
• 1926, Henry Watson Fowler, (1st ed., Oxford at the Clarendon Press), page 590, column 2, “syllabize &c.”syllabize &c. A verb & a noun are clearly sometimes needed for the notion of dividing words into syllables. The possible pairs seem to be the following (the number after each word means — 1, that it is in fairly common use; 2, that it is on record; 3, that it is not given in OED): — 
   syllabate 3    syllabation 2
   syllabicate 2    syllabication 1
   syllabify 2      syllabification 1
   syllabize 1     syllabization 3
  One first-class verb, two first-class nouns, but neither of those nouns belonging to that verb. It is absurd enough, & any of several ways out would do; that indeed is why none of them is taken. The best thing would be to accept the most recognized verb syllabize, give it the now non-existent noun syllabization, & relegate all the rest to the Superfluous words