- of, relating to, or consisting of a syllable or syllables.
- pronounced with careful distinction of syllables.
- of, relating to, or noting poetry based on a specific number of syllables, as distinguished from poetry depending on stresses or quantities.
- (of chanting) having each syllable sung to one note only.
- Phonetics.
- (of a consonant) forming a syllable by itself, as the (n) in button [buht-n] /ˈbʌt n/ or the (l) in bottle [bot-l] /ˈbɒt l/.
- (of a vowel) dominating the other sounds in a syllable; sonantal.
- Phonetics. a syllabic sound.
Origin of syllabic
1720–30; <
Late Latin syllabicus <
Greek syllabikós. See
syllable,
-ic Related formssyl·lab·i·cal·ly, adverbDictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for syllabic
Historical Examples of syllabic
The Chinese have no alphabet, but about 20,000 syllabic characters.
It may prove that there are some ten sheets on the register under this syllabic title.
Compare what was said about syllabic m in § 22, and about syllabic n in § 24.
Japanese is a syllabic language like our own, but, unlike our own, it is not accented.
These four degrees of syllabic and etymological accent are as follows: 1.
British Dictionary definitions for syllabic- of or relating to syllables or the division of a word into syllables
- denoting a kind of verse line based on a specific number of syllables rather than being regulated by stresses or quantities
- (of a consonant) constituting a syllable
- (of plainsong and similar chanting) having each syllable sung to a different note
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for syllabicadj.1728, from Modern Latin syllabicus, from Greek syllabikos, from syllabe (see syllable).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
