syllable Meaning, Definition & Usage

Syl"la*ble noun

Etymology

OE. sillable, OF. sillabe, F. syllabe, L. syllaba, Gr. that which is held together, several letters taken together so as to form one sound, a syllable, fr. to take together; with + to take; cf. Skr. labh, rabh. Cf. Lemma, Dilemma.

Definitions

1. An elementary sound, or a combination of elementary sounds, uttered together, or with a single effort or impulse of the voice, and constituting a word or a part of a word. In other terms, it is a vowel or a diphtong, either by itself or flanked by one or more consonants, the whole produced by a single impulse or utterance. One of the liquids, l, m, n, may fill the place of a vowel in a syllable. Adjoining syllables in a word or phrase need not to be marked off by a pause, but only by such an abatement and renewal, or reënforcement, of the stress as to give the feeling of separate impulses. See Guide to Pronunciation, §275.
2. In writing and printing, a part of a word, separated from the rest, and capable of being pronounced by a single impulse of the voice. It may or may not correspond to a syllable in the spoken language.

   Withouten vice [i. e. mistake] of syllable or letter. Chaucer.

3. A small part of a sentence or discourse; anything concise or short; a particle.

   Before any syllable of the law of God was written. Hooker.

   Who dare speak One syllable against him? Shak.

Syl"la*ble transitive verb

Definitions

1. To pronounce the syllables of; to utter; to articulate. Milton.