Word.ws English Dictionary

syllaba anceps

UK/ˈsɪləbə ˈænsɛps/

syllaba anceps noun: a syllable of unfixed or undecided weight.

Noun

syllaba anceps (plural syllabae ancipites)

  1. A syllable of unfixed or undecided weight.
    • 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...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...

Forms of syllaba anceps

pluralsyllabae ancipites

Origin of syllaba anceps

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

Questions about syllaba anceps

What does syllaba anceps mean?
Syllaba anceps means a syllable of unfixed or undecided weight.
What part of speech is syllaba anceps?
Syllaba anceps is a noun.
How do you pronounce syllaba anceps?
Syllaba anceps is pronounced /ˈsɪləbə ˈænsɛps/ (UK).
What is the plural of syllaba anceps?
The plural of syllaba anceps is syllabae ancipites.

Words near syllaba anceps in the dictionary

  1. sylis
  2. SYLK
  3. Sylki
  4. Sylla
  5. syllab
  6. syllaba anceps
  7. syllabae ancipites
  8. syllabaria
  9. syllabaric
  10. syllabaries
  11. syllabarium

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: syllaba anceps (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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