Skip to main content
syllabic

syllabic

1 5.8
Relating to syllables in speech, writing, or music
  • adjective
  • /sɪˈlæbɪk/
  • Specialized
translation icon : silábico
  • Have students research melismatic, neumatic, and syllabic singing in church music and the history of chant from Gregory to the Council of Trent.
  • syllabic plural
  • syllabic words
  • syllabic plural morpheme

So my first word, my first multi syllabic word that wasn't like, you know, Mama or Dada was dangerous, dangerous.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • In the music classroom, children learning music-symbol reading clap and sing their own names by syllabic division ("Jon-a-than").

    Academic text (2002)
  • Purpose: Children acquire /-? z/ syllabic plurals (e.g., buses) later than /-s, -z/ segmental plurals (e.g., cats, dogs).

    Academic text (2013)
  • The aim of our study was to determine which factors best explain this later acquisition of the syllabic plural.

    Academic text (2013)
  • Students learned strategies for decoding multi-syllabic words and participated in structured partner reading.

    Academic text (2014)
  • Hence, this much lower frequency of occurrence of the syllabic plural may be a significant contributor to this morpheme's later acquisition.

    Academic text (2013)
  • In language classes, students often learn about syllabic stress to improve their pronunciation.

  • The teacher explained how syllabic division helps in understanding the structure of difficult words.

  • In music, a syllabic vocal line uses one note for each syllable of the lyrics.

Antonyms

nonsyllabic
  • Specialized
9.2

A sound that cannot be a syllable by itself

Compounds

syllabic script
  • Specialized
8.0

A writing system where each symbol stands for a syllable like "ka" or "mo"

How Ornate

melisma
  • Specialized
9.5
neumatic
  • Specialized
9.9
syllabic
  • Specialized
1 5.8

Surface Forms

syllabic positive

Morphology

syllabic = syllable (transparent) = syllab + ic

Clearly formed from 'syllable' + the adjectival '-ic', meaning 'relating to syllables'.

Etymology

Syllabic comes from syllable, the little sound unit in speech. So syllabic simply means 'about syllables', for example when a language or a song uses syllables as the main building blocks of sound.