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• dactyl
  dactyl

  noun

  a foot of three syllables, one long followed by two short in quantitative meter, or one stressed followed by two unstressed in accentual meter, as in gently and humanly.
• Dactyl
  Dactyl

  noun

  any of a number of beings dwelling on Mount Ida and working as metalworkers and magicians.
• -dactyl
  -dactyl

  variant of -dactylous, especially with nouns.

dactyl

¹ American  

[dak-til] / ˈdæk tɪl /

noun

1. Prosody. a foot of three syllables, one long followed by two short in quantitative meter, or one stressed followed by two unstressed in accentual meter, as in gently and humanly.

2. a finger or toe.

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Dactyl ² American  

[dak-til] / ˈdæk tɪl /

Or Daktyl

noun

Classical Mythology.

plural

Dactyls, Dactyli

1. any of a number of beings dwelling on Mount Ida and working as metalworkers and magicians.

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-dactyl ³ American  

1. variant of -dactylous, especially with nouns.

   pterodactyl.

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dactyl British  

/ ˈdæktɪl /

noun

1. Also called: dactylic.  prosody a metrical foot of three syllables, one long followed by two short ( ) Compare bacchius

2. zoology any digit of a vertebrate

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Usage

What does -dactyl mean? The combining form -dactyl is used like a suffix with two related meanings. Depending on the context, it can mean "fingered, possessing fingers" or "toed, possessing toes." Essentially, -dactyl means "having digits." It is occasionally used in scientific terms, especially in anatomy and zoology. The form -dactyl comes from Greek dáktylos, meaning “finger” or “toe.” In poetry, the metrical foot known as a dactyl also derives from this same Greek root. Learn more at our entry for dactyl. What are variants of -dactyl?The form -dactyl is a variant of -dactylous, as in tetradactylous. While not a variant of -dactyl, -dactyly is also related to this form. Want to know more? Read our Words That Use article for these combining forms.

Etymology

Origin of dactyl¹

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin dactylus < Greek dáktylos finger, a dactyl, referring to the three joints of the finger

Origin of Dactyl²

< Greek Dáktyloi ( Idaîoi ) (Idaean) craftsmen or wizards (plural of dáktylos; see dactyl)

Explanation

A dactyl is a unit of poetry consisting of three syllables, the first of which is stressed. The word "poetry" is itself a great example of a dactyl! When a poem is made up of three-syllable metrical feet, and the emphasis naturally lands on the first syllable of each foot, you call those units dactyls. The Greek root is daktylos, which means "unit of measure" but also "finger." The literary term came from the "finger" meaning — the three bones in a finger represent the three syllables in a dactyl. These lines from Alfred, Lord Tennyson's "Charge of the Light Brigade" are written in dactyls: "Flashed all their sabres bare, / Flashed as they turned in air / Sabring the gunners there."