monosyllable

American  

[mon-uh-sil-uh-buhl] / ˈmɒn əˌsɪl ə bəl /

noun

1. a word of one syllable, as yes or no.

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monosyllable British  

/ ˈmɒnəˌsɪləbəl /

noun

1. a word of one syllable, esp one used as a sentence

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• monosyllabism
  noun

Etymology

Origin of monosyllable

First recorded in 1525–35; mono- + syllable

Explanation

A monosyllable is a word that has only one syllable, or beat of sound. The sentence, "A good friend is hard to find, but a good dog is not," contains only monosyllables. A single syllable of speech has one vowel sound, which could be written with two letters — like ea sometimes makes the long e sound — and may have consonants around it. More than half of English words are monosyllables, meaning they have just one vowel sound. Most basic words are monosyllables, like a, the, he, and she. But longer words can be monosyllables, too: The nine-letter word stretched is a monosyllable (it's pronounced /strecht/).