paeon

American  

[pee-uhn, -on] / ˈpi ən, -ɒn /

noun

1. Classical Prosody. a foot of one long and three short syllables in any order.

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paeon British  

/ ˈpiːən /

noun

1. prosody a metrical foot of four syllables, with one long one and three short ones in any order

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Other Word Forms

• paeonic adjective

Etymology

Origin of paeon

1595–1605; < Latin paeōn < Greek paiōn, Attic variant of paiā́n; see paean

Example Sentences

And then the movie – like all the great John Hughes movies, a paeon to the ambiguities of youth; the pleasures, the agonisies, the clothes, oh sweet Jesus the clothes.

From The Guardian • May 29, 2014

Instead it is a heart-wringing paeon to homesickness.

From The Guardian • May 30, 2010

This introduces a new question, whether English verse admits of a foot resembling the Greek paeon, _̷◡◡◡.

From The Principles of English Versification by Baum, Paull Franklin

The paeon, however, as consisting of four syllables, is reckoned by some to be only a number, and not a foot.

From Cicero's Brutus or History of Famous Orators; also His Orator, or Accomplished Speaker. by Jones, E.

And all this, which is also contained in Aristotle, is said by Theophrastus and Theodectes about the paeon.

From The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Volume 4 by Cicero, Marcus Tullius