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dactyl

Syllabification: (dac·tyl)
Pronunciation: /ˈdaktl/

Definition of dactyl

noun

Prosody
  • a metrical foot consisting of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables or (in Greek and Latin) one long syllable followed by two short syllables.

Origin:

late Middle English: via Latin from Greek daktulos, literally 'finger' (the three bones of the finger corresponding to the three syllables)

dactyl in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of dactyl in the British & World English dictionary

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