Inflection
Webster's Dictionary [1]
(1): ( n.) A bend; a fold; a curve; a turn; a twist.
(2): ( n.) The variation or change which words undergo to mark case, gender, number, comparison, tense, person, mood, voice, etc.
(3): ( n.) The act of inflecting, or the state of being inflected.
(4): ( n.) Same as Diffraction.
(5): ( n.) A slide, modulation, or accent of the voice; as, the rising and the falling inflection.
(6): ( n.) A departure from the monotone, or reciting note, in chanting.
(7): ( n.) Any change or modification in the pitch or tone of the voice.
The Nuttall Encyclopedia [2]
The name given to the changes in the end of words to indicate relations, not so common in English—being usually expressed among us by prepositions—as in Latin, Greek, and other languages, but occurring in English as king's, mine, ours, to indicate possession; inflection in nouns is called declension, and in verbs conjugation.
