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syllable

syllable

66 1.1
One beat in a word that has a vowel sound
  • noun
  • /ˈsɪl.ə.bəl/
translation icon : sílaba
  • A child first learned to trace letters, then syllables, then words, and finally sentences.
  • stressed syllable
  • unstressed syllable
  • weak syllable

I hated every syllable of that story.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • How else to read poetry but syllable by syllable, word by word, line by line.

  • There were a few words of more than one syllable there.

  • Can you read these two syllable words?

  • OK, the first syllable of the second word.

  • So we could take the same syllable YA, which with that tone means tree.

  • Students are confronted with two languages that use the same syllables to mean different things.

    Academic text (2011)
  • "Oh!" she said, investing the syllable with the maximum of shock and dismay.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • A word is a certain form that's composed of letters or syllables or however you want to frame it.

  • l didn't know "athlete" had three syllables.

  • The word 'banana' has three syllables when pronounced.

Compounds

Simple language that uses short, easy words

closed syllable
  • Specialized
6.0

A syllable that ends with a consonant and has a short vowel sound

light syllable
  • Specialized
7.8

A syllable with a short vowel sound and no consonant at the end

heavy syllable
  • Specialized
8.3

A syllable with a long vowel, two vowel sounds together, or a final consonant that sounds stronger

open syllable
  • Specialized
5.3

A syllable that ends with a vowel sound and usually has a long vowel

syllable structure
  • Specialized
6.9

How speakers arrange sounds inside one part of a word

solfa syllable
  • Specialized
6.5

A syllable that names a musical note like do or mi

How Complex

syllable structure
  • Specialized
6.9
closed syllable
  • Specialized
6.0
syllable
66 1.1
open syllable
  • Specialized
5.3

Surface Forms

syllable singular
syllables plural

Etymology

Syllable comes from Greek parts meaning 'together' and 'to take', from the parts syn- and lambanein. So a syllable is a group of sounds 'taken together' as one unit, which is why you can clap once for each syllable in a word.