Procope is the loss of one or more segments from the beginning of a larger unit. An entire syllable may be procopated if unstressed.

Examples:
OE knife becomes ME [naif], Engl. I am becomes I'm.
Ancient Greek hêméra ‘day’ becomes MGr méra;
Lat. hospitium becomes MGr spíti 'house';
Fr. étape becomes Ital. tappa:
German kann es becomes kann's.

'Procope' may also be a hyponym of 'aphaeresis' in designating that kind of aphaeresis which constitutes a sound change (in the language system).