Syllable - Dictionary Definition and Overview

Syllable :  (noun)

1: a unit of spoken language larger than a phoneme; "the word `pocket' has two syllables"

Based on WordNet 2.0

Syllable : \Syl"la*ble\, v. t. To pronounce the syllables of; to utter; to articulate. --Milton.

Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

Syllable : \Syl"la*ble\, n. [OE. sillable, OF. sillabe, F. syllabe, L. syllaba, Gr. ? that which is held together, several letters taken together so as to form one sound, a syllable, fr. ? to take together; ? with _ ? to take; cf. Skr. labh, rabh. Cf. Lemma, Dilemma.] 1. An elementary sound, or a combination of elementary sounds, uttered together, or with a single effort or impulse of the voice, and constituting a word or a part of a word. In other terms, it is a vowel or a diphtong, either by itself or flanked by one or more consonants, the whole produced by a single impulse or utterance. One of the liquids, l, m, n, may fill the place of a vowel in a syllable. Adjoining syllables in a word or phrase need not to be marked off by a pause, but only by such an abatement and renewal, or re["e]nforcement, of the stress as to give the feeling of separate impulses. See Guide to Pronunciation, [sect]275.

2. In writing and printing, a part of a word, separated from the rest, and capable of being pronounced by a single impulse of the voice. It may or may not correspond to a syllable in the spoken language.

Withouten vice [i. e. mistake] of syllable or letter. --Chaucer.

3. A small part of a sentence or discourse; anything concise or short; a particle.

Before any syllable of the law of God was written. --Hooker.

Who dare speak One syllable against him? --Shak.

Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Example Usage of Syllable

Taezar: @kjmci @iusebiro let's just say it sounded very ethnic and may have had an extra Syllable or two.
BuMbLeGeEeE: If you so much as utter one Syllable I'LL HUNT YOU DOWN AND GUT YOU LIKE A FISH!...If you'd like to fax me press the star key.-The/Mr Grinch
jezzaj: #TheGrinch "If you utter so much as one Syllable, I'LL HUNT YOU DOWN AND GUT YOU LIKE A FISH! If you'd like to fax me, press the star key."
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