word accent
- noun
- /wɜrd ˈæksɛnt/
- Specialized
:
acento de palabra
- Many English learners struggle with word accent, often stressing the wrong syllable.
Examples
-
The teacher explained that understanding word accent can help improve pronunciation.
-
When you use the word accent, it's like God made it happen for us.
-
In the word 'banana', the first syllable has the primary word accent.
Synonyms
Emphasis on one syllable when you say a word with more than one syllable
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a polysyllabic word' is directly derivable from combining 'word' (a unit of speech) with 'accent' (emphasis or stress). This straightforward noun–noun composition follows common compositional patterns and has clear cross-linguistic equivalents, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will understand it.
Etymology
Word accent comes from the simple image of one syllable in a word getting a stronger accent, like a louder beat you can tap with your finger. So word accent means the syllable that is 'stressed' or feels strongest in the word.
