syllable

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English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English syllable, sillable, syllabylle, sylabul, from Anglo-Norman sillable, from Old French sillebe, from Latin syllaba, from Ancient Greek συλλαβή (sullabḗ), from συλλαμβάνω (sullambánō, “I gather together”), from συν- (sun-, “together”) + λαμβάνω (lambánō, “I take”).

Pronunciation

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  • (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA(key): /ˈsɪl.ə.bəl/, [ˈsɪl.ə.bɫ̩]
  • Audio (UK):(file)
  • Hyphenation: syl‧la‧ble

Noun

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syllable (plural syllables)

  2. (linguistics) A unit of human speech which often forms words corresponding to one opening of the mouth; a vowel and its surrounding consonants.
    Meronyms: onset, nucleus, coda, rime
    • 2007, Don DeLillo, Underworld: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Scribner Classics, →ISBN, page 543:
      I wanted to look up velleity and quotidian and memorize the fuckers for all time, spell them, learn them, pronounce them syllable by syllable—vocalize, phonate, utter the sounds, say the words for all they're worth.
  3. The written representation of a given pronounced syllable.
  4. A small part of a sentence or discourse; anything concise or short; a particle.
    • 1594, Richard Hooker, “The fourth Scripture proofe”, in J[ohn] S[penser], editor, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], 3rd edition, London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, →OCLC, book II, page 60:
      Then let them caſt backe their eyes vnto former generations of men, and marke what was done in the prime of the world. Seth, Enoch, Noah, Sem, Abraham, Iob, and the reſt that liued before any ſyllable of the law of God was written, did they not ſinne as much as wee doe in euery action not commanded?
    • 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 227, column 1:
      Th'Archbyſhop
      Is the Kings hand, and tongue, and who dare ſpeak
      One ſyllable againſt him?
    • 1861, E. J. Guerin, Mountain Charley, page 22:
      In none of my travels did I ever meet him or learn a syllable of his whereabouts.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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syllable (third-person singular simple present syllables, present participle syllabling, simple past and past participle syllabled)

  1. (transitive, poetic) To utter in syllables.
    • 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC, page 8:
      [A] thouſand fantaſies
      Begin to throng into my memorie
      Of calling ſhapes, and beckning ſhadows dire,
      And ayrie tongues, that ſyllable mens names
      On Sands, and Shoars, and deſert Wilderneſſes.

Translations

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Further reading

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