Main Entry:

¹syl·la·ble

Pronunciation:

\ˈsi-lə-bəl\

Function:

noun

Etymology:

Middle English, from Anglo-French sillabe, silable, from Latin syllaba, from Greek syllabē, from syllambanein to gather together, from syn- + lambanein to take — more at latch

Date:

14th century

1 : a unit of spoken language that is next bigger than a speech sound and consists of one or more vowel sounds alone or of a syllabic consonant alone or of either with one or more consonant sounds preceding or following 2 : one or more letters (as syl, la, and ble) in a word (as syl*la*ble) usually set off from the rest of the word by a centered dot or a hyphen and roughly corresponding to the syllables of spoken language and treated as helps to pronunciation or as guides to placing hyphens at the end of a line 3 : the smallest conceivable expression or unit of something : jot 4 : sol-fa syllables