trochee

American  

[troh-kee] / ˈtroʊ ki /

noun

Prosody.

1. a foot of two syllables, a long followed by a short in quantitative meter, or a stressed followed by an unstressed in accentual meter.

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trochee British  

/ ˈtrəʊkiː /

noun

1. prosody a metrical foot of two syllables, the first long and the second short ( ) Compare iamb

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Etymology

Origin of trochee

1580–90; < Latin trochaeus < Greek ( poùs ), trochaîos running (foot), equivalent to troch- (variant stem of tréchein to run) + -aios adj. suffix

Example Sentences

Not that one needs to know an anapest from a trochee to enjoy the genre.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 6, 2023

Within its print-hung, paneled walls, smelling of old leather bindings and armchairs, the Grolier is a club of booklovers more interested in a richly tooled cover than in a succulent footnote or limpid trochee.

From Time Magazine Archive

A single stressed syllable, then a trochee, then a dactyl, for prosody nerds.

From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith

It will be noted that the dactyl is very closely related in expression to the trochee, and the anapest to the iambic.

From Browning and the Dramatic Monologue by Curry, S. S. (Samuel Silas)

The scheme of the following line, "The flesh was a picture for painters to study," may be indicated thus: But nearly all English poetry is based upon the four feet,—iambus, trochee, dactyl, and anapest,—first given.

From Elementary Guide to Literary Criticism by Painter, F. V. N. (Franklin Verzelius Newton)