How to pronounce simplex
Say it like SIM-pleks. Simplex has two syllables, and the main stress falls on the first one (SIM).
Click the play button next to American or British to hear how to pronounce simplex. Choose Slow to hear each sound clearly.
- SIM
- pleks
- Main stress
- Lighter stress
- Unstressed
Simplex pronunciation, sound by sound
Read the parts left to right, then blend them together without pausing.
- SIMSay this part loudest and longest. The vowel is the "i" in sit.
- pleksGive this part a little weight. The vowel is the "e" in bed.
American vs British pronunciation of simplex
American and British speakers say simplex in essentially the same way: /ˈsɪmˌplɛks/ in the US and /ˈsɪmplɛks/ in the UK.
British respelling: SIM-pleks.
What does simplex mean?
- Having a single structure; not composite or complex; undivided, unitary.
- Of a circuit or device: involving signals which travel in one direction at a time; unidirectional.
- Of a polyploid organism: having one dominant allele at a given locus on all homologous chromosomes.
- A generalization of a triangle or tetrahedron to an arbitrary dimension; more accurately, the convex hull of n+1 affinely independent points in n-dimensional space.
- A word which is not compound and contains no derivational affixes (inflectional affixes are usually disregarded); a monomorphemic word.“The word weak is a simplex. Its derivative weaken is not.”
- An apartment (or, sometimes, another type of property) having only one floor or storey; a single-storey property.
Where does simplex come from?
Noun sense 1 (“generalization of a triangle or tetrahedron to an arbitrary dimension”) was apparently coined by the Dutch mathematician Pieter Hendrik Schoute (1846–1913) as a short version of Simplicissimum in Mehrdimensionale Geometrie (in German, 1902).
Similar and opposite words
Opposite meaning
Questions about saying simplex
How do you pronounce simplex?
Say SIM-pleks. The American pronunciation is /ˈsɪmˌplɛks/. In British English it is /ˈsɪmplɛks/. Press play above to hear it at normal speed or slowly.
How many syllables are in simplex?
Simplex has two syllables, and the main stress falls on the first one (SIM). Broken into parts: SIM · pleks.
Do Americans and Brits say simplex the same way?
Almost exactly. The American form is /ˈsɪmˌplɛks/ and the British form is /ˈsɪmplɛks/, so you can use either pronunciation with any listener.