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adder

Fauna
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A venomous snake of the viper family, especially the common European adder; poetic use may evoke danger, treachery, or biblical associations.

Detailed Definition
An adder is a snake, especially one thought of as poisonous or dangerous in older English. In Psalm 91 it appears in a list of threats that the faithful person will overcome.
Example
Example in poetry:
Psalm 91:13: “Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder,” where the adder represents bodily and spiritual danger; “An adder coiled beneath the stone” uses the small venomous snake for suspense; Shakespeare’s Cleopatra calls the asp “the pretty worm of Nilus,” showing how snake imagery can mingle death and beauty; In a modern nature poem, “the adder slips through heather” can restore the animal’s ecological reality
Additional Notes
“adder” is an older animal word that many modern readers may not know, and the quoted line uses it as a specific snake name.; Found in the poem, Psalm 91 by King James Bible
Also Known As
serpent viper snake reptile
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