syllable
Syllables: syl·la·ble/ˈsɪl.ə.bəl/
syllable noun: a unit of human speech which often forms words corresponding to one opening of the mouth; a vowel and its surrounding consonants.
Noun
syllable (plural syllables)
- A unit of human speech which often forms words corresponding to one opening of the mouth; a vowel and its surrounding consonants.
- 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.2007, Don DeLillo, Underworld: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Scribner Classics, →ISBN, page 543
- The written representation of a given pronounced syllable.
- A small part of a sentence or discourse; anything concise or short; a particle.
- 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?[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]...
- Th'Archbyſhop
Is the Kings hand, and tongue, and who dare ſpeak
One ſyllable againſt him?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)...
Verb
syllable (third-person singular simple present syllables, present participle syllabling, simple past and past participle syllabled)
- To utter in syllables.
- [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.1634 October 9 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey...
- [A] thouſand fantaſies
syllable meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
syllable in Hindi
- unit of speech
- शब्दांश śabdāñś, अक्षर akṣar, हिजा hijā
syllable in Marathi
- syllable
- अक्षर akṣar
syllable in Urdu
- unit of speech
- ہِجا hijā, اَکْشَر akśar, شَبْد اَنْش śabd anś
More languagesFewer languages
- syllable in Bengali
- অক্ষর okkhor, পদাংশ podaṅśo, সিল্যাব্ল śillablo
- syllable in Malayalam
- അക്ഷരം, ലിപി, ഒരു സ്വരം മാത്രമുളള വ്യഞ്ജനക്കൂട്ടം
- syllable in Kannada
- ಉಲಿಕಂತೆ
- syllable in Punjabi
- ਅੱਖਰ akkhar
- syllable in Gujarati
- અક્ષર akṣar
- syllable in Odia
- ଶବ୍ଦାଂଶ
- syllable in Sanskrit
- अक्षर akṣara, वर्ण varṇa
- syllable in Sinhala
- මාත්රා, මාත්රා ලෙස කියවීම
- syllable in Nepali
- सिलेबल
- syllable in Pashto
- هجا hejā, سيلاب silāb
- syllable in Tagalog
- pantig
- syllable in Arabic
- مَقْطَع لَفْظِيّ maqṭaʕ lafẓiyy, مَقْطَع maqṭaʕ
- syllable in Malay
- suku kata
- syllable in Indonesian
- suku kata, silabel, wanda
- syllable in Thai
- พยางค์ pá-yaang, คำ kam
- syllable in Vietnamese
- âm tiết
- syllable in Myanmar
- ဝဏ္ဏ wanna.
Examples of syllable in a sentence
- In the word "careful", the accent is placed on the first syllable.
- "Naïve" takes an umlaut because it is pronounced as two syllables.
- Some people put the stress on the first syllable of “controversy”; others put it on the second.
Forms of syllable
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | syllables |
| alternative form (obsolete) | syllab |
| alternative form (obsolete) | syllabe |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | syllables |
| present participle | syllabling |
| past participle | syllabled |
| past | syllabled |
Origin of syllable
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, “to gather together”), from συν- (sun-, “together”) + λαμβάνω (lambánō, “to take”).
Words formed from syllable
- ambisyllabic
- checked syllable
- closed syllable
- decasyllable
- disyllable
- dodecasyllable
- duodecasyllable
- duosyllable
- enneasyllable
- foresyllable
- free syllable
- hendecasyllable
- heptasyllable
- hexasyllable
- intersyllable
- in words of one syllable
- midsyllable
- monosyllable
- multisyllable
- octosyllable
- oligosyllable
- open syllable
- pentasyllable
- plurisyllable
- polysyllabic
- polysyllable
- protosyllable
- quadrisyllable
- quinquesyllable
- semisyllabic
- semisyllable
- septisyllable
- sesquisyllable
- syllabary
- syllabatim
- syllabic
- syllabification
- syllabify
- syllable-timed
- syllable timing
- syllable weight
- trisyllable
- words of one syllable
Phrases with syllable
Questions about syllable
- What does syllable mean?
- Syllable means a unit of human speech which often forms words corresponding to one opening of the mouth; a vowel and its surrounding consonants.
- What is syllable in Hindi?
- Syllable in Hindi is शब्दांश (śabdāñś), अक्षर (akṣar), हिजा (hijā). See Syllable meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is syllable?
- Syllable can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce syllable?
- Syllable is pronounced /ˈsɪl.ə.bəl/ (UK).
- What is the plural of syllable?
- The plural of syllable is syllables.
Words near syllable in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: syllable (page history and authors); syllable (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); अक्षर (Marathi) (page history and authors); syllable (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); syllable (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਅੱਖਰ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); syllable (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); syllable (Sinhala Wiktionary) (page history and authors); syllable (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-uk-syllable.ogg.
Cite this entry: “syllable.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/syllable. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.