Noun: syllable
| Singular | syllable |
| Plural | syllables |
Sample Sentences
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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:]
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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], published 1611, →OCLC, book II, page 60:]
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Th'Archbyſhop
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Is the Kings hand, and tongue, and who dare ſpeak
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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), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 227, column 1:]
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In none of my travels did I ever meet him or learn a syllable of his whereabouts. [1861, E. J. Guerin, Mountain Charley, page 22:]
Nouns inflected like syllable
soldier's woundwort,
Nicosian,
whopper,
greypate,
tactile sign language,
chronotrope,
Rosie Lee,
dissentient,
photoinactivator,
sulphonediimine,
coastal waterfall,
residuary devise,
bituminization,
nitrosonaphthol,
smṛiti,
geosphere,
backscreen,
mensuralist,
flocculate,
flocculant, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
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”). See: Middle English Nouns '
syllable', Latin Nouns '
syllaba', Ancient Greek Nouns '
συλλαβή'.