syllable

[ sil-uh-buhl ]

noun

1. an uninterrupted segment of speech consisting of a vowel sound, a diphthong, or a syllabic consonant, with or without preceding or following consonant sounds:

   “Eye,” “sty,” “act,” and “should” are English words of one syllable. “Eyelet,” “stifle,” “enact,” and “shouldn't” are two-syllable words.

2. one or more written letters or characters representing more or less exactly such an element of speech.
3. the slightest portion or amount of speech or writing; the least mention:

   Do not breathe a syllable of all this.

verb (used with object)

, Chiefly Literary.

, syl·la·bled, syl·la·bling.

1. to utter in syllables; articulate.
2. to represent by syllables.

verb (used without object)

, Chiefly Literary.

, syl·la·bled, syl·la·bling.

1. to utter syllables; speak.

syllable

/ ˈsɪləbəl /

noun

1. a combination or set of one or more units of sound in a language that must consist of a sonorous element (a sonant or vowel) and may or may not contain less sonorous elements (consonants or semivowels) flanking it on either or both sides: for example "paper" has two syllables See also open closed
2. (in the writing systems of certain languages, esp ancient ones) a symbol or set of symbols standing for a syllable
3. the least mention in speech or print

   don't breathe a syllable of it

4. in words of one syllable
   simply; bluntly

verb

1. to pronounce syllables of (a text); articulate
2. tr to write down in syllables

syllable

1. A basic unit of speech generally containing only one vowel sound. The word basic contains two syllables ( ba-sic ). The word generally contains four ( gen-er-al-ly ). ( See hyphen .)

Grammar Note

Spoken English is very flexible in its syllable structure. A vowel sound can constitute a syllable by itself—like the e in unequal (un·e·qual) —or can be preceded by up to three consonant sounds (as in strong or splint ) and followed by up to four consonant sounds, as in tempts or sixths (which ends with the sounds k+s+th+s). But the English sound system is not without rules. Some combinations of consonant sounds, like p+k, can never occur within a syllable, and others can occur only at one end or the other. For example, the combination s+f can occur at the beginning of a syllable (as in sphere ) but not at the end, while the reverse sequence f+s can occur at the end (as in laughs ) but not at the beginning. The language does stretch occasionally to accommodate borrowings from other languages, as for words like schlep and tsar that can be said with an initial consonant cluster not native to English. And in a broad sense, even certain meaningful utterances composed exclusively of consonant sounds can be regarded as syllables. Examples include shh (urging silence) and psst (used to attract someone’s attention). Breaking a written word into syllables—as in a dictionary entry, where the purpose is to clarify the structure of the word and assist in understanding and pronunciation, or in a book, for the purpose of end-of-line hyphenation—involves additional considerations. While based primarily on sound, the syllable divisions in spelled-out forms are also influenced by long-established spelling conventions, the etymology of the word, and the lack of an exact correspondence between spelling and pronunciation. For example, in writing, multisyllabic words with double consonants are conventionally divided between the consonants, even though the consonant is pronounced only once: sudden is divided as sud·den, though pronounced suddn. But the word adding —formed by combining the word add with the suffix -ing, is divided as add·ing to show its constituent parts. And a word like exact (pronounced igzakt) cannot be divided purely phonetically, because the letter x itself would have to be split; it is traditionally divided as ex·act. This means that even when divisions in the spelled form and the pronunciation do not match, they are both correct.

Other Words From

• half-sylla·bled adjective
• un·sylla·bled adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of syllable¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English sillable, from Anglo-French; Middle French sillabe, from Latin syllaba, from Greek syllabḗ, equivalent to syl- prefix meaning “with, together” ( syl- ) + lab- (base of lambánein “to take”) + -ē noun suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of syllable¹

C14: via Old French from Latin syllaba, from Greek sullabē, from sullambanein to collect together, from sul- syn- + lambanein to take

Idioms and Phrases

see words of one syllable .

Example Sentences

He’d make up fake s—, just syllables and vowels, like songwriters do.

From Los Angeles Times

Each syllable burns like an ember, every word tinged with new possibilities.

From Salon

It’s hard to think of another actor who could do more with syllables than Maggie Smith.

From Los Angeles Times

“Raiiiiii-nieeeeeer,” they sang, each syllable sounding off as the bike reached a higher gear.

From Seattle Times

They spoke on a recent day in their Berlin studio as they giggled and tripped over their own stanzas — which exploit a feature of German grammar that crams nouns together into strings of syllables.

From New York Times