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trochee

[troh-kee]
noun Prosody.
  1. a foot of two syllables, a long followed by a short in quantitative meter, or a stressed followed by an unstressed in accentual meter. Symbol:
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Origin of trochee

1580–90; < Latin trochaeus < Greek (poùs), trochaîos running (foot), equivalent to troch- (variant stem of tréchein to run) + -aios adj. suffix
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for trochee

Historical Examples

  • He could make Greek iambics, and doubted whether the bishop knew the difference between an iambus and a trochee.

    The Last Chronicle of Barset

    Anthony Trollope

  • Antispast, an′ti-spast, n. in metre, a foot composed of an iambus and a trochee.

  • The Trochee, which has the first syllable accented, and the last unaccented: as, Ynke dodl.

  • The hexameter is a six-foot catalectic verse theoretically consisting of five successive dactyls and a trochee.

  • In the iambic and trochaic metres other feet are often substituted for the iambus and the trochee, but without change of rhythm.

British Dictionary definitions for trochee

trochee

noun
  1. prosody a metrical foot of two syllables, the first long and the second short (– ◡)Compare iamb
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Word Origin

C16: via Latin from Greek trokhaios pous, literally: a running foot, from trekhein to run
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 trochee

n.

1580s, from French trochée, from Latin trochaeus "a trochee," from Greek trokhaios (pous), literally "a running, spinning (foot)," from trekhein "to run" (see truckle (n.)). As a metrical foot, a long followed by a short syllable, or an accented followed by an unaccented one.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper