Syllable \Syl"la*ble\, n. [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.]
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 re["e]nforcement, of the stress as to give
the feeling of separate impulses. See Guide to
Pronunciation, [sect]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.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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