accent

en-noun

accent (countable and uncountable, plural accents)

From Middle English accent, from Medieval Latin accentus and Old French accent, acent, both from Latin accentus, past participle of accinō (“sing to, sing along”). The word accent had been borrowed into Old English already, but was lost and reborrowed in Middle English.

tongval

distinctive pronunciation associated with a region, social group, etc.

акце́нт

math: mark to distinguish magnitudes of similar kind

pilkku

geometry: mark indicating minutes and seconds of a degree

(prosody, poetry) Stress laid on certain syllables of a verse.


masculine

en-adj

masculine (comparative more masculine, superlative most masculine)

more masculine (comparative)
most masculine (superlative)

From Middle English masculyne, masculyn, from Old French masculin, from Latin masculīnus, diminutive of masculus (“male, manly”), itself a diminutive of mās (“male”). Displaced native Old English werlīċ (literally “manly”).

mashkullor

having male qualities, not feminine or effeminate

Masculine caesura, masculine catalexis, masculine ending.

(prosody) Following or ending on a stressed syllable.


foot

en-noun

foot (plural feet or (UK colloquial, unit of measure) foot)

→ Assamese: ফুট (phut)

q

from <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">feet</i>

→ Japanese: フット (futto), フート (fūto); フィート (fīto) (from feet)

→ Russian: фут (fut)

Sranan Tongo: futu

Aukan: futu

Saramaccan: fútu

→ Swahili: futi

→ Thai: ฟุต (fút)

Tok Pisin: fut, put

→ Urdu: فٹ (fuṭ)

→ Phalura: fuṭ

From Middle English fot, fote, foot, from Old English fōt, from Proto-West Germanic *fōt, from Proto-Germanic *fōts, from Proto-Indo-European *pṓds. Doublet of pes, pie (“Spanish unit of length”), and pous.

doublet

not touch something with a ten-foot pole

you cannot put the same shoe on every foot

(prosody) The basic measure of rhythm in a poem.


contraction

en-noun

contraction (countable and uncountable, plural contractions)

PIE word
 *ḱóm
From Late Middle English contraccioun, contraxion (“spasm, contraction; constriction, shrinking; act of pressing together”), from Old French contraction (modern French contraction), from Latin contractiō(n) (“a drawing together, contraction; abridgement, shortening; dejection, despondency”), from contrahō (“to draw things together, assemble, collect, gather; to enter into a contract”) + -tiō(n) (suffix forming nouns relating to actions or their results). Contrahō is derived from con- (prefix denoting a bringing together of objects) + trahō (“to drag, pull”) (probably from Proto-Indo-European *dʰregʰ- (“to drag, pull; to run”)). By surface analysis, contract + -ion (suffix denoting actions or processes, or their results).

verkleining

Senses relating to pulling together or shortening.

A (sometimes reversible) contracting or reduction in length, scope, size, or volume; a narrowing, a shortening, a shrinking.

(linguistics, phonology, prosody) Synonym of syncope (“the elision or loss of a sound from the interior of a word, especially of a vowel sound with loss of a syllable”)


long

From Middle English long, lang, from Old English long, lang (“long, tall, lasting”), from Proto-West Germanic *lang, from Proto-Germanic *langaz (“long”), from Proto-Indo-European *dlongʰos (“long”).
Cognate with Scots lang (“long”), North Frisian long, lung (“long”), Saterland Frisian loang (“long”), Norwegian, West Frisian, Dutch and German lang (“long”), Swedish lång (“long”), Icelandic langur (“long”), Portuguese longo (“long”), Spanish luengo (“long”), French long, Latin longus (“long”), Russian дли́нный (dlínnyj), до́лго (dólgo), Sanskrit दीर्घ (dīrgha, “long”).
The word exceptionally retains the Old English darkening of -a- before nasals. Though there are other such examples in Middle and Modern English (e.g. bond, song, throng, wrong), the o-form may have been reinforced by Old French long, from Latin longus, from the same Indo-European word. Doublet of lungo and lunge.


feminine

en-adj

feminine (comparative more feminine, superlative most feminine)

more feminine (comparative)
most feminine (superlative)

butch

having qualities stereotypical of the female gender

From Middle English feminine, femynyne, femynyn, from Old French feminin, feminine, from Latin fēminīnus, from fēmina (“woman”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-m̥h₁n-eh₂ (“(the one) nursing, breastfeeding”). Related to fetus, feminism, filial, fellatio.

femëror

of the feminine grammatical gender distinction

Feminine caesura, feminine catalexis, feminine ending.

(prosody) Following or ending on an unstressed syllable.


acatalectic

From Late Latin acatalēcticus, from Ancient Greek ἀκατάληκτος (akatálēktos, “leaving off”).

(poetry, prosody) Designating a line of verse having the required number of syllables in the last foot


acatalectic

(poetry, prosody) A verse which has the complete number of feet and syllables


decametre

Borrowed from French décamètre. Equivalent to deca- + metre.

(prosody) A line in a poem having ten metrical feet.

(prosody) A poetic metre in which each line has ten feet.


acephalous

en-adj

acephalous (comparative more acephalous, superlative most acephalous)

more acephalous (comparative)
most acephalous (superlative)

From French acéphale, from Ancient Greek ἀκέφαλος (aképhalos, “headless”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + κεφαλή (kephalḗ, “head”). By surface analysis, a- + -cephalous.

der

They have acephalous or headless Verses, which commence with a short Syllable instead of a long one:

1746, Claude Lancelot, translated by T. Nugent, A New Method of Learning with Greater Facility the Greek Tongue, London: J. Nourse and G. Hawkins, Volume 2, Book 9, p. 348:

Sometimes verse lines “jump” the first syllable (in anapaestic and dactylic measures the first two syllables) of a regular metre. Such lines are said to be acephalous (headless) or, as acrostic writers would put it, “beheaded.”

1934, Robert Swann, Frank Sidgwick, chapter 2, in The Making of Verse: A Guide to English Metres, London: Sidgwick & Jackson, page 16:

(prosody) Deficient in the beginning, as a line of poetry that is missing its expected opening syllable.


thesis

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Johann Gottlieb Fichte

From Late Middle English thesis (“lowering of the voice”) and also borrowed directly from its etymon Latin thesis (“proposition, thesis; lowering of the voice”), from Ancient Greek θέσῐς (thésĭs, “arrangement, placement, setting; conclusion, position, thesis; lowering of the voice”), from τῐ́θημῐ (tĭ́thēmĭ, “to place, put, set; to put down in writing; to consider as, regard”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to do; to place, put”)) + -σῐς (-sĭs, suffix forming abstract nouns or nouns of action, process, or result). The English word is a doublet of deed.
Sense 1.1 (“proposition or statement supported by arguments”) is adopted from antithesis. Sense 1.4 (“initial stage of reasoning”) was first used by the German philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814), and later applied to the dialectical method of his countryman, the philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831).
The plural form theses is borrowed from Latin thesēs, from Ancient Greek θέσεις (théseis).

der

(music, prosody, originally) The action of lowering the hand or bringing down the foot when indicating a rhythm; hence, an accented part of a measure of music or verse indicated by this action; an ictus, a stress.

(music, prosody, with a reversal of meaning) A depression of the voice when pronouncing a syllables of a word; hence, the unstressed part of the metrical foot of a verse upon which such a depression falls, or an unaccented musical note.


pulse

From Late Middle English pulse, Middle English pous, pouse (“regular beat of arteries, pulse; heartbeat; place on the body where a pulse is detectable; beat (of a musical instrument); energy, vitality”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman puls, pous, pus, and Middle French pouls, poulz, pous [and other forms], Old French pous, pulz (“regular beat of arteries; place on the body where a pulse is detectable”) (modern French pouls), and from their etymon Latin pulsus (“beat, impulse, pulse, stroke; regular beat of arteries or the heart”), from pellō (“to drive, impel, propel, push; to banish, eject, expel; to set in motion; to strike”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to beat, strike; to drive; to push, thrust”)) + -sus (a variant of -tus (suffix forming action nouns from verbs)).

nb...

pouce, pounce, pouns, pounse, pousse, pouz, puls

der

(music, prosody) The beat or tactus of a piece of music or verse; also, a repeated sequence of such beats.


monoid

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-monoid.wav

(prosody) Containing only one kind of metrical foot.


diaeresis

/daɪˈɛɹɪsɪs/

/daɪˈɪəɹɪsɪs/

/daɪˈɪəɹɪsɪs/

/daɪˈɛɹəsɪs/

/daɪˈɪəɹɪsiːz/

PIE word
 *dwís
Unadapted borrowing from Late Latin diaeresis (“distribution; division of a diphthong into two syllables”), from Ancient Greek δῐαίρεσῐς (dĭaíresĭs, “distribution, division; division of a poetic line when the end of a word and a metrical foot coincide; division of a diphthong into two syllables”), from δῐαιρέω (dĭairéō, “to divide; to distinguish; to resolve a diphthong or contracted form”) + -σῐς (-sĭs, suffix forming abstract nouns or nouns of action, process, or result). Δῐαιρέω (Dĭairéō) is derived from δῐᾰ- (dĭă-, prefix meaning ‘across; through; in different directions’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dwís (“doubly, twice; in two”)) + αἱρέω (hairéō, “to grasp, seize, take”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to grasp, seize, take”)).
The plural is borrowed from Latin diaeresēs.

diërese

separation of one syllable (especially a vowel which is a diphthong) into two distinct syllables

Synaeresis, the opposite of Diaëresis, is the throwing of two syllables into one; as, Seest for seëst. Looked for look-ed.

1843, John Forbes, “Prosody”, in A Double Grammar of English and Gaelic, in which the Principles of Both Languages are Clearly Explained; […], Edinburgh: W. Whyte & Co. […], →OCLC, paragraph 7, page 363, column 1:

A separation of one syllable (especially a vowel which is a diphthong, that is, beginning with one sound and ending with another) into two distinct syllables; distraction.

Diæreſis is vvhen tvvo points ouer a vovvell diuide it from another vovvel, as bouë, queuë, read bou-e, queu-e, not bo-ue, que-ue.

1611, Randle Cotgrave, compiler, “Briefe Directions for Such as Desire to Learne the French Tongue. And First, of the Vowels, and Diphthongs.”, in A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, signature Nnnn, recto, column 2:

The Diæresis is used to divide a diphthong into two syllables; as, Creätor.

1841, William Corry, “Grammatical Terms, with Their Respective Marks and Explanations”, in An English Spelling Book, with Reading Lessons; for the Use of the Parish and Other Schools of New Brunswick, St. John, N.B.: […] Henry Chubb, […], →OCLC, page 8:

An 85-year injustice has been rectified at Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey with the corrected spelling of one of the greatest of all literary names. Reader, it is finally Brontë, not Bronte. An amended memorial to Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë was unveiled on Thursday with added diaereses (two dots) that ensure people pronounce it with two syllables. As if it rhymed with Monty, not font. The memorial was installed in 1939 and, for whatever reason, came without the diaereses that the Brontës used.

2024 September 26, Mark Brown, “Brontë sisters finally get their dots as names corrected at Westminster Abbey”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2024-10-05:

(orthography) The diacritical mark consisting of two dots (¨) placed over a letter (especially the second of two consecutive vowels) to indicate that it is sounded separately, usually as a distinct syllable.

deelteken

diacritical mark consisting of two dots (¨) placed over a letter to indicate that it is sounded separately

An occurrence of separate vowel sounds in adjacent syllables without an intervening consonant; a hiatus.

(prosody) A natural break in rhythm when a word ends at the end of a metrical foot in a line of verse.


aphetic

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ἄφετος (áphetos), equivalent to aphesis + -tic.

lbor

“’Pon” is an aphetic form of “upon”.

(phonetics, linguistics, prosody) Of, relating to, or formed by aphesis.


aphesis

en-noun

aphesis (countable and uncountable, plural apheses)

Attested since 1880. Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ἄφεσις (áphesis, “letting go”), from ἀφίημι (aphíēmi), from ἀπό (apó, “off”) + ἵημι (híēmi, “send forth”).

lbor

The word "scarp" is derived from "escarp" by aphesis.

(phonetics, linguistics, prosody) The loss of the initial unstressed vowel of a word.


tmesis

en-noun

tmesis (countable and uncountable, plural tmeses)

From Late Latin tmēsis, from Ancient Greek τμῆσις (tmêsis, “a cutting”), from τέμνω (témnō, “I cut”). First attested in 1586.

der

(prosody) The insertion of one or more words between the components of a compound word.

тмезис

insertion of one or more words between the components of a word


biceps

en-noun

biceps (plural biceps or bicepses or bicipites)

biceps (plural)
bicepses (plural)
bicipites (plural)

PIE word
 *dwóh₁
From Latin biceps (“double-headed, two peaked”), from bis (“double”) + caput (“head”). See there for more details.

der

Also it is advisable to distinguish this ( ˘ ˘ ) — ˘ ˘ — rhythm, where the princeps was probably shorter in duration than the biceps (as in the dactylic hexameter), from true (marching) anapaests, in which they were equal.

1987, Martin Litchfield West, Introduction to Greek Metre:

This means that in the metrical sequence[…] recited in ordinary speech rhythm, the princeps occupied a slightly shorter time than the biceps (5:6), and if a long syllable was used to fill the biceps it had to be dragged a little[…]

2000, James I. Porter, Nietzsche and the Philology of the Future, page 347:

(prosody) A point in a metrical pattern that can be filled either with one long syllable (a longum) or two short syllables (two brevia)


leash

From Middle English leesshe, leysche, lesshe, a variant of more original lease, from Middle English lees, leese, leece, lese, from Old French lesse (modern French laisse), from Latin laxa (“thong, a loose cord”), feminine form of laxus (“loose”); compare lax. Doublet of laisse.

(prosody) A kind of metrical construct in Skeltonics.


tetrameter

en-noun

tetrameter (countable and uncountable, plural tetrameters)

(prosody) A poetic metre in which each line has four feet.


epenthesis

epenthesis (countable and uncountable, plural epentheses)

Middle of 16th century: via Late Latin, from Ancient Greek ἐπένθεσις (epénthesis), from ἐπεντίθημι (epentíthēmi, “I insert”), from ἐπί (epí) + ἐντίθημι (entíthēmi, “I put in”), from ἐν (en, “in”) + τίθημι (títhēmi, “I put, place”).

(phonetics, prosody) The insertion of a phoneme, letter, or syllable into a word, usually to satisfy the phonological constraints of a language or poetic context.

epentese

insertion of a phoneme or letter into a word


iambic

en-adj

iambic (comparative more iambic, superlative most iambic)

more iambic (comparative)
most iambic (superlative)

From Middle French iambique, from Late Latin ïambicus, from Ancient Greek ἰαμβικός (iambikós), from ἴαμβος (íambos) + -ικός (-ikós).

[J]ust before the rhythm becomes iambic, there will be a point reached at which the rhythm can hardly be said to be more iambic than it is trochaic.

1908, Frank Gilbert Bruner, The Hearing of Primitive Peoples, page 17:

(prosody) Consisting of iambs (metrical feet with an unstressed-stressed pattern) or characterized by their predominance. [from 16th c.]

iàmbic

consisting of iambs or characterized by their predominance


iambic

(prosody) An iamb; a line or group of lines of iambs.


systole

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-systole.wav

Borrowed from New Latin, from Ancient Greek συστολή (sustolḗ), from συστέλλω (sustéllō, “to contract”), from σύν (sún, “together”) + στέλλω (stéllō, “to send”).

(prosody) A shortening of a naturally long vowel.


paragoge

en-noun

paragoge (countable and uncountable, plural paragoges)

/pæɹəˈɡəʊd͡ʒi/

From Late Latin paragoge, from Ancient Greek παραγωγή (paragōgḗ, “derivation, addition”).

der

(grammar, prosody) The addition of a sound, syllable or letter to the end of a word, either through natural development or as a grammatical function.

lostkresk

the addition of a sound, syllable or letter to the end of a word


apocope

en-noun

apocope (countable and uncountable, plural apocopes)

Learned borrowing from Late Latin apocopē, from Ancient Greek ἀποκοπή (apokopḗ), ἀποκόπτω (apokóptō, “cut off”).

lbor

(phonetics, prosody, strictly) The loss or omission of the last vowel in a word, together with any consonants that follow it.


pyrrhic

From Latin pyrrhichius, from Ancient Greek πυρρίχιος (purrhíkhios), from πυρρίχη (purrhíkhē, “war dance”).

(prosody) Of or characterized by pyrrhics (metrical feet with two short syllables).


pyrrhic

(prosody) A metric foot with two short or unaccented syllables.


ultima

en-noun

ultima (countable and uncountable, plural ultimas)

From the Latin feminine of ultimus (“last”).

(grammar, prosody, countable) The final syllable of a word.


prosthesis

prosthesis (countable and uncountable, plural prostheses)

Via Latin, from Ancient Greek πρόσθεσις (prósthesis, “addition”), from προστίθημι (prostíthēmi, “I add”), from πρός (prós, “towards”) + τίθημι (títhēmi, “I place”), from Proto-Indo-European *próti, *préti + *dʰédʰeh₁ti (“to be putting, to be placing”).


caesura

Latin caesūra (“cutting, hewing”), from caesus, perfect passive participle of caedō (“I cut down, hew”).

(Classical prosody) Using two words to divide a metrical foot.

cezurë

using two words to divide a metrical foot


synaeresis

en-noun

synaeresis (countable and uncountable, plural synaereses)

/sɪnˈɛɹəsɪs/

From Ancient Greek συναίρεσις (sunaíresis, “unification”), from συν- (sun-, “together”) + αἵρεσις (haíresis, “taking”), from αἱρέω (hairéō, “I take”).

uder

(linguistics, prosody) The contraction of two vowels into a diphthong or a long vowel.


distich

From Latin distichon (“a poem of two verses, a distich consisting of a hexameter and a pentameter”), from Ancient Greek δίστιχον (dístikhon).

bor

Coordinate term: monostich

Through these distichs of increasing intensity and vagueness, the reader is brought to the riddle of the concluding distich: as far as the speaker is concerned, the girl was ‘pure’, but she will not be if Aeschylus wants to receive the same service on a ‘bad condition’.

2012, Christer Henriksén, A Commentary on Martial, Epigrams Book 9, OUP Oxford, →ISBN, page 282:

(prosody) A couplet, a two-line stanza making complete sense.


diastole

en-noun

diastole (usually uncountable, plural diastoles)

From Ancient Greek διαστολή (diastolḗ, “separation, drawing asunder”), from διά (diá, “apart”) + στέλλειν (stéllein, “send”).

der

1815 March and June, On the Greek and Latin Accents, The Classical Journal, Volume XI, page 81,
I have inserted diastole which is omitted in Putschius, an insertion which both the complement, and the subsequent text make necessary.

[A]ccording to prosody, this syllable has the diastole and the stress, whereas the second of “cujus” or of “animam” has not.

1841, Gottfried Weber, Godfrey Weber′s General Music Teacher, page 115:

Surely Goethe′s basic dichotomy of systole and diastole in the Divan poem[…].

2010, Jürgen Thym, Ann Clark Fehn, Of Poetry and Song: Approaches to the Nineteenth-Century Lied, page 46:

(uncountable, prosody) The lengthening of a vowel or syllable beyond its typical length.


assonance

en-noun

assonance (countable and uncountable, plural assonances)

From French assonance, from Latin assonāre; by surface analysis, a- + son- + -ance.

"You should try to speak without assonances" said Merlyn. "For instance, 'The beer is never clear round here, dear' is unfortunate, even as an assonance.'"

1938, T.H. White, chapter 12, in The Sword in the Stone, Collins:

(prosody) The repetition of similar or identical vowel sounds (though with different consonants), usually in literature or poetry.


monosemic

(prosody) Consisting of, or equal to, a single semeion.


metathesis

metathesis (countable and uncountable, plural metatheses)

→ Malay: metatesis

Borrowed from Late Latin metathesis, from Ancient Greek μετάθεσις (metáthesis), from μετά (metá, “among”) + θέσις (thésis, “placement”).

af

(phonetics, prosody) The transposition of letters, syllables or sounds within a word, such as in ask as /æks/.

vendkëmbim

the transposition of letters, syllables or sounds within a word

перестано́вка

зву́ков и́ли слого́в в слова́х


iamb

From French iambe in the mid-1800s, from Latin ïambus, from Ancient Greek ἴαμβος (íambos). Displaced iambus which shares the same classical origin.

(prosody) A metrical foot in verse consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.


ictus

en-noun

ictus (plural ictus or ictuses or ictusses)

ictus (plural)
ictuses (plural)
ictusses (plural)

From Latin ictus (“a blow”), from īco (“I hit, strike, or smite”; “I stab or sting”).

(prosody) The stress of voice laid upon an accented syllable of a word. Compare arsis.


anapest

Dr. Seuss
How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

From Latin anapaestus, from Ancient Greek ἀνάπαιστος (anápaistos, “struck back, reversed [relative to dactyl]”), from ἀνά (aná, “back”) + παίω (paíō, “I strike”).

der

struck back, reversed 􂀿relative to dactyl􂁀

(prosody) In qualitative meter, a metrical foot consisting of three syllables, the first two unstressed and the last one stressed.

(prosody) In quantitative meter, a metrical foot consisting of three syllables, two short, then one long.

(prosody) A fragment, phrase or line of poetry or verse using this meter.


apheresis

en-noun

apheresis (countable and uncountable, plural aphereses)

/əˈfɪəɹɪsɪs/

/ˌæfəˈɹisɪs/

From Latin aphaeresis, from Ancient Greek ἀφαίρεσις (aphaíresis, “a taking away”), from ἀφαιρέω (aphairéō) (from ἀφ- (aph-), variant of ἀπό (apó, “off, away from”) before an aspirated vowel) + αἱρέω (hairéō, “to take; to snatch”)) + -σις (-sis, suffix forming nouns of action); the grammatical sense developed in Latin.

der

en:loss of sound or letter at start of word

(phonetics, linguistics, prosody) Elision, suppression, or complete loss of a letter or sound (syllable) from the beginning of a word, such as the development of special from especial.

raktroc'h

loss of letters or sounds from the beginning of a word


catalectic

From Latin catalecticus, from Ancient Greek καταληκτικός (katalēktikós, “leaving off, incomplete”) from κατάληξις (katálēxis).

uder

καταληκτικός

(prosody) (said of a line with incomplete meter) lacking a syllable at the end or ending with an incomplete foot.


anacrusis

Via New Latin from Ancient Greek ἀνάκρουσις (anákrousis, “pushing up”), from ἀνακρούω (anakroúō, “I push up”), from ἀνά (aná, “up”) + κρούω (kroúō, “I strike”).

der

(prosody) An unstressed syllable at the start of a verse.

anacrusi

(prosody) an unstressed syllable at the start of a verse


syncope

en-noun

syncope (countable and uncountable, plural syncopes)

Learned borrowing from Late Latin syncopē, from Ancient Greek συγκοπή (sunkopḗ), from συγκόπτω (sunkóptō, “cut up”) + -η (-ē, nominalization suffix), from σύν (sún, “beside, with”) + κόπτω (kóptō, “strike, cut off”).

lbor

Coordinate term: apocope

[…]; on the contrary, all syllables subject in the same way to elision, apocope, syncope, and slurring must have the same degree of stress (i.e. they must be alike unaccented) whether preceded by short or by long root-syllables.

1910, Jakob Schipper, A History of English Versification:

(linguistics, phonology, prosody) The elision or loss of a sound from the interior of a word, especially of a vowel sound with loss of a syllable.


bacchic

en-adj

bacchic (comparative more bacchic, superlative most bacchic)

more bacchic (comparative)
most bacchic (superlative)


bacchius

So called because used in hymns to Bacchus.

(prosody) A metrical foot composed of a short syllable and two long ones; according to some, two long and a short.


pada

There were quatrains and broken verses and entire poems. There were padas that she had started and scratched out.

1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 79:

(Sanskrit prosody) The basic metric unit of Vedic poetry, consisting of one line of verse in Sanskrit, typically as part of a four-line stanza.


amphibrach

From Latin amphibrachys, from Ancient Greek ἀμφίβραχυς (amphíbrakhus, “short at both ends”), from ἀμφί (amphí) + βραχύς (brakhús, “short”).

der

(prosody) A metrical foot in ancient Greek or Latin consisting of two short syllables surrounding one long one (e.g. amāta).

Then Banoffsky launched into Glinka's great amphibrachs [...]: Subside, agitation of passion!

1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin 2011, page 322:

(prosody) A metrical foot in modern prosody, consisting of three syllables, the middle one of which is stressed (e.g. Jamaica).


metrical foot

(prosody) The basic unit of the underlying rhythm of verse.


footed

en-adj

footed (comparative more footed, superlative most footed)

more footed (comparative)
most footed (superlative)

From Middle English foted, i-foted, equivalent to foot + -ed.

2003, Tony K. Stewart, Introduction to Rabindranath Tagore, The Lover of God, Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon Press, p. 12,
As for the strict forms in which the original poems were written, it seemed an empty exercise to force English into those particular strictures, which in Bengali literary tradition are richly associative but which in English are not. The familiar fourteen-syllable payār couplet with its aa bb cc rhymes and the more intricate three-footed tripadi of variable length and rhyme were the first casualties of the process.

each six-footed line of the verse

(prosody, usually in combination) Consisting of, or having been put into, metrical feet (of a specified character or number).


iambus

Borrowed from Latin ïambus (“a certain poetic meter”), from Ancient Greek ἴαμβος (íambos).


assonant

assonant (comparative more assonant, superlative most assonant)

more assonant (comparative)
most assonant (superlative)

From Latin assonāns, present participle of assonō.

(prosody) Characterized by assonance; having successive similar vowel sounds.


strophe

Borrowed from Latin stropha, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek στροφή (strophḗ, “a turn, bend, twist”). Compare strap and strop.

der

(prosody) A turn in verse, as from one metrical foot to another, or from one side of a chorus to the other.

(prosody) The section of an ode that the chorus chants as it moves from right to left across the stage.

(prosody) A pair of stanzas of alternating form on which the structure of a given poem is based.


tribrach

PIE word
 *tréyes
From the Latin tribrachys, from the Ancient Greek τρῐ́βρᾰχῠς (trĭ́brăkhŭs), from τρῐ- (trĭ-, “tri-”) + βρᾰχῠ́ς (brăkhŭ́s, “short”). Compare the French tribraque.

prefix

For your foote tribracchus of all three short, ye haue very few trissillables.

1589, George Puttenham, The Arte of English Poesie, book ii, chapter xiii (Arb.), page 133

We may vse a Spondee or Iambick and sometime a Tribrack or Dactile.

1602, Thomas Campion, chapter IV, in Observations in the Art of English Poesie, page 11:

Tribrachus or Tribrachys, (Gr[eek]) a Foot in Greek and Latin Verſe, conſiſting of three ſhort Syllables; as Pŏpŭlŭs.

[1706, Edward Phillips, compiler, J[ohn] K[ersey the younger], “Tribrachus or Tribrachys”, in The New World of Words: Or, Universal English Dictionary. […], 6th edition, London: […] J. Phillips, […]; N. Rhodes, […]; and J. Taylor, […], →OCLC, column 1:

Of all the resolved feet, the Tribrach in Trochaic verse with its ictus on the first syllable ⏑́⏑⏑ is most readily recognised by the ear as equivalent to the Trochee.

1827, the Rev’d Canon James Tate, An Introduction to the Principal Greek Tragic and Comic Metres in Scansion, Structure, and Ictus (second edition, 1829), chapter xi: “The Ictus of the long Trochaic of Tragedy”, §5 (page 23)

If the range of pure tribrachic measure, or of tribrachs intermingled with trochees, appears much wider in our song-books than in volumes of poetry written to be read.

1866, John Stuart Blackie, Homer and the Iliad, volume I, page 401:

The plain tribrach is frequent in every one’s reading.

1885, Thomas Dwight Goodell, “Quantity in English Verse”, in Transactions of the American Philological Association, XVI, page 88:

(prosody) A metrical foot consisting of three short syllables.

tribraque

prosody: metrical foot comprising three short syllables


strophic

en-adj

strophic (comparative more strophic, superlative most strophic)

more strophic (comparative)
most strophic (superlative)

through-composed

antonym(s) of “having each stanza set to the same music”


dactylic

dactylic (comparative more dactylic, superlative most dactylic)

more dactylic (comparative)
most dactylic (superlative)


consonance

en-noun

consonance (countable and uncountable, plural consonances)

From Middle English consonance, from Middle French consonance, from Latin cōnsonantia. Doublet of consonancy. By surface analysis, con- + son- + -ance.

surf

en:repetition of consonant sounds although not vowels

(prosody) A form of rhyme having the same consonants but different vowels.


cynghanedd

en-noun

cynghanedd (usually uncountable, plural cynganeddion)

Borrowed from Welsh cynghanedd (“harmony”).

Only certain epithets and metaphors were authorized; themes were similarly restricted, metres fixed, and Cynghanedd, the repetitive use of consonantal sequences with variation of vowels, became a burdensome obsession.

1948 (revised 1952), Robert Graves, The White Goddess, Faber & Faber 1999, p. 14

1998, editors (names unknown), "cynghanedd" in Britannica Online Encyclopedia
There are four fundamental types of cynghanedd, but within these there are a number of refinements and variations. When skillfully used, cynghanedd is capable of conveying an almost unlimited variety of subtle effects.

(prosody) The complex system of internal assonance, alliteration and rhyme in Welsh strict-meter poetry.


thetic

en-adj

thetic (comparative more thetic, superlative most thetic)

more thetic (comparative)
most thetic (superlative)


synartetic

synartetic (comparative more synartetic, superlative most synartetic)

more synartetic (comparative)
most synartetic (superlative)

(prosody) Having a continuous metre not separated by diaeresis.


anacreontic

anacreontic (comparative more anacreontic, superlative most anacreontic)

more anacreontic (comparative)
most anacreontic (superlative)

From Late Latin Anacreonticus, from Ancient Greek Ἀνακρέων (Anakréōn), Anacreon a Greek poet.

(prosody) Pertaining to the style of the Greek poet Anacreon, who wrote of wine and love; (specifically) designating a metre based on an anaclastic ionic dimeter.


sdrucciola

Borrowed from Italian sdrucciola (feminine form of sdrucciolo (“slippery; stressed on the antepenult”)).

Note that ending that couplet’s lines with the words ‘reparate’ and ‘separate’ would create a rhyme sdrucciola, if that helps.

(rare, prosody, of a rhyme) Formed of words stressed on their antepenults and rhyming on all three final syllables.


acephalic

The acephalic pentameters yield to tetrameters with a starting dactyl or anapest […]

1988, John Hollander, chapter 7, in Melodious Guile: Fictive Pattern in Poetic Language, Yale University Press, page 146:

(prosody) Deficient in the beginning, as a line of poetry that is missing its expected opening syllable.


tetrastich

From Latin tetrastichon, from neuter of Ancient Greek τετράστιχον (tetrástikhon, “having four rows”), from τετρα- (tetra-, “four”) + στίχος (stíkhos, “row”).


synizesis

en-noun

synizesis (countable and uncountable, plural synizeses)

From Ancient Greek συνίζησις (sunízēsis, “a sitting together”), from σύν (sún, “with”) (English syn-) + ἱζάνω (hizánō, “to sit”).

der

(prosody) The pronunciation of two separate vowels as a single one.


isorhythmic

(prosody) In ancient prosody, equal in the number of times for thesis and arsis, as a dactyl and anapest.


aphaeretic

From Ancient Greek ἀφαιρετικός (aphairetikós).

uder

(rare, medicine, phonetics, linguistics, prosody) Of the nature of apheresis.


oxytonic

Formed as oxy- + tonic after oxytone. Compare the earlier oxytonical.

(prosody) Having a stress on the last syllable.


paroxytonic

Ultimately from Ancient Greek παροξύτονος (paroxútonos, “with an acute accent on the next to last syllable”)

(prosody) Of or relating to words whose stress falls on the penultimate syllable


hendecasyllable

Borrowed from Latin hendecasyllabus, from Ancient Greek ἑνδεκασύλλαβος (hendekasúllabos); equivalent to hendeca- + syllable.

der

ἑνδεκασύλλαβος

(chiefly prosody) A line, verse, or word that comprises eleven syllables.


antispast

(prosody) A metrical foot composed of an iambus and a trochee

antispasti

a metrical foot composed of an iambus and a trochee


septenarius

(prosody) A verse having seven metrical feet.


tasis

Borrowed from Ancient Greek τάσις (tásis, “stretching, tension, intensity”).

bor

(prosody) Extending the sound of an utterance for the pleasure of saying or hearing it.


Standard Habbie

en-noun

Standard Habbie (usually uncountable, plural Standard Habbies)

After the poet Habbie Simpson (1550-1620).

(prosody) A Scottish verse form with six-line stanzas rhyming AAABAB, with tetrameter A lines and dimeter B lines.


dicolon

(prosody) A verse or period consisting of two cola or members.


versual

versual division

(archaic, especially prosody) Of or pertaining to a verse.


monoseme

The foot pattern for the baby caprine song is: diseme/monoseme/diseme/diseme.

2001, John William Johnson, “Computer Technology and the Study of Music and Prosody: The Case of Somali Oral Performance”, in Russell H. Kaschula, editor, African Oral Literature: Functions in Contemporary Contexts, →ISBN, page 7:

In a given poem, a monoseme contains a short vowel of one mora, and a diseme contains two moras.

2008, John William Johnson, “Music and Poetry in Somalia”, in edited by Douglas Puchowski, The Concise Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, volume 1, →ISBN, page 58:

But its primary meaning must be rhythmic, since it is not used to group notes longer than a monoseme […]

2011, Charles H. Cosgrove, An Ancient Christian Hymn with Musical Notation. Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1786: Text and Commentary, →ISBN, page 116:


syllaba anceps

syllaba anceps (plural syllabae ancipites)

sĭʹləbə ănʹsĕps

Latin: syllaba (“syllable”) + anceps (“double-headed, uncertain”)

Syllabae ancipites at the ends of lines are […]

1908, Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt [eds.], The Oxyrhynchus Papyri (Egypt Exploration Fund), volume 5, issues 840–844, page 17

The name of L constitutes one syllable, but its position at the end of the (dactylic-hexameter) line makes it a syllaba anceps, either long or short, and any one of three interpretations seems possible: el (with the preceding word, geminat, having a long final syllable, the A retaining its original length, as we find in even later poets), or le (with Strzelecki, the E being long or short), or ll (with Marx), i.e., sonant/syllabic l (as others put it).

ante''' 1971, Arthur E. Gordon, The Letter Names of the Latin Alphabet (1973, University of California Press; volume 9 of University of California Publications: Classical Studies), part VI: “Conclusions”, § 1: ‘The Ancient Evidence’, page 51

(prosody) A syllable of unfixed or undecided weight.


epitrite

Compare French épitrite, Latin epitritus, Ancient Greek ἐπίτριτος (epítritos).

(poetry, Ancient Greek and Latin prosody) A metrical foot consisting of three long syllables and one short syllable.


proparoxytonic

(prosody) Of or relating to words whose stress falls on the antepenultimate (third to last) syllable


Abgesang

/ˈɑp.ɡəˌzɑŋ/

Borrowed from German Abgesang; ab- (“down, from”) + Gesang (“song”).

(prosody, poetry, usually capitalized) Repetition of the same word or phrases for emphasis; epistrophe, especially the concluding section.


ecstasis

The insertion of the i by poetic ecstasis furnishes the syllable necessary to complete the number of feet, […]

1811, Peter Wilson, Introduction to Greek Prosody, page 160:


choreus

From Latin choreus, from Ancient Greek χορεῖος (khoreîos), related to χορός (khorós, “choir, chorus”).


iambelegus

(prosody) A verse consisting of an iambic dimeter and half an elegiac pentameter.


quantitative metathesis

quantitative metathesis (countable and uncountable, plural quantitative metatheses)

(prosody) A form of metathesis or transposition involving quantity or vowel length, by which two neighboring vowels – one long, one short – switch their lengths, so that the long one becomes short, and the short one becomes long.


asynartetic

en-adj

asynartetic (comparative more asynartetic, superlative most asynartetic)

more asynartetic (comparative)
most asynartetic (superlative)

/əˌsɪnɑːˈtɛtɪk/

(prosody) Having or containing two different types of metre


procope

Learned borrowing from Late Latin procopē, via Ancient Greek προκοπή (prokopḗ) from verb προκόπτω (prokóptō, “to cut away in front; forward, advance”), προ- (pro-, “before; in front”) + κόπτω (kóptō, “to cut”).

af

(phonetics, linguistics, prosody) Synonym of apheresis.

Prokope

loss or removal of a sound at the beginning of a word


tetrasemic

From tetra- + Ancient Greek σημεῖον (sēmeîon, “sign”) + -ic.

(prosody) Equivalent to four short syllables, consisting of four moras as a dactyl, anapest, or spondee.


mesodic

(prosody) Relating to a system of different form intervening between a strophe and its antistrophe.


semeion

From Ancient Greek σημεῖον (sēmeîon, “a mark”).

bor

(prosody) A unit of time, a division of a foot; a mora.


trisemic

From triseme (“a group of three morae or units of time”) + -ic.

af

triseme<t:a group of three morae or units of time>


synaphea

From Ancient Greek συνάπτω (sunáptō, “to join together”).

der

(prosody) The metrical continuity between one colon and another.

(prosody) Mutual connection of all the verses in a system, so that they are scanned as one verse, as in anapaestics.

(prosody) Elision or synalepha, at the end of a line, of the final vowel of a dactylic hexameter before the initial vowel of the next.


triseme

(prosody) Consisting of three semeia; trisemic.


triseme

(prosody) A group of three semeia, or moras.


octapody

From octa- + -pody, from Ancient Greek ὀκτώ (oktṓ, “eight”) and πούς, ποδός (poús, podós, “foot”).

(prosody) A metre or verse of eight feet.


penthemimer

(prosody) A metrical unit equal to half of a pentameter


octonarian

(prosody) Composed of eight metrical feet


hypermonosyllable

From hyper- + monosyllable; coined by the poet Robert Bridges.

(prosody) A word of multiple syllables, such as "power", when presented (e.g. in poetry) as having only one syllable.


masculine caesura

en-noun

masculine caesura (plural masculine caesuras or masculine caesurae)

masculine caesuras (plural)
masculine caesurae (plural)

Coordinate term: feminine caesura

Where the main caesura is not followed by bucolic caesura, lines with feminine caesura differ from lines with masculine caesura in two respects: […]

1978, Denys Page, Rufinus: The Epigrams of Rufinus, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 29:

(prosody) A caesura following a stressed syllable.


feminine caesura

feminine caesura (plural feminine caesuras or feminine caesurae)

feminine caesuras (plural)
feminine caesurae (plural)

Coordinate term: masculine caesura

(prosody) A caesura following an unstressed syllable.


trochaize

en-verb

trochaize (third-person singular simple present trochaizes, present participle trochaizing, simple past and past participle trochaized)

trochaizes (present singular third-person)
trochaizing (participle present)
trochaized (participle past)
trochaized (past)

(transitive, prosody, rare) To write in, or convert to, trochees.


consonant rhyme

en-noun

consonant rhyme (countable and uncountable, plural consonant rhymes)


single time

(prosody, obsolete) A syllable, considered as a metrical unit or unit of time.

(prosody, obsolete) A metrical unit equivalent to the duration of a short syllable.


Pherecratean

/ˌfɛɹɪkɹəˈtiːən/

From Latin Pherecratēus, by-form of Pherecratīus, from Ancient Greek Φερεκρᾰ́τειος (Pherekrắteios), from Φερεκρᾰ́της (Pherekrắtēs, “Pherecrates”), the name of the metre’s inventor.

der

Φερεκρᾰ́τειος

Pherecratean verses are sometimes combined in systems: but much more frequent are Glyconic systems closing with a Pherecratean.

(Ancient Greek and Latin prosody, of a logaoedic metre or verse) Consisting of three prosodic feet, normally a spondee, dactyl, and spondee (or trochee), but admitting of some variations.

Φερεκρᾰ́τειος

consisting of three feet, spondee–dactyl–spondee or spondee–dactyl–trochee


Pherecratean

/ˌfɛɹɪkɹəˈtiːən/

Φερεκρᾰ́τειος

(Ancient Greek and Latin prosody) A Pherecratean metre.

(Ancient Greek and Latin prosody) A Pherecratean verse.