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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

dactyl.

A metrical foot of three syllables of the shape | – ⏖ |

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈdæktɪl/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. A metrical foot of three syllables of the shape | – ⏖ |

  2. A metrical foot of three syllables of the shape | – ⏖ |: In qualitative metre, a foot with a stressed first syllable followed by two unstressed syllables.

  3. A metrical foot of three syllables of the shape | – ⏖ |: In quantitative metre, a foot with a long first syllable followed by two short syllables.

  4. A metrical foot of three syllables of the shape | – ⏖ |: An excerpt of poetry or verse using this metre.

Where this word comes from

Learned borrowing from Latin dactylus, from Ancient Greek δάκτυλος (dáktulos, “finger”), from the three bones of the finger corresponding to three syllables. Doublet of dactylus, date, and (possibly) digit.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.