1. past tense of metathesise/metathesize: to undergo or cause to undergo metathesis (a transposition of sounds, letters, or syllables within a word or between words)
Usage: linguistics; chemistry

Examples

• The word 'ask' metathesized from an earlier form with different sound order.
• In chemistry, the compound metathesized when exposed to the catalyst.
• Linguists noted that the consonants metathesized over centuries of language evolution.
• The reaction metathesized the molecular structure into a new configuration.
• Historical sound changes metathesized many words in the Romance languages.