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Apocopic rhyme

Rhyme
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 rhyme formed by omitting the final unstressed syllable of a word (e.g., “loving” / “dove”), common in older English verse.

Detailed Definition
Apocopic rhyme is a rhyme formed through apocope, where shortened word forms (e.g., “morn” for “morning”) create end-rhymes that maintain metrical regularity while subtly altering lexical fullness for poetic economy.
Example
Example in poetry:
Apocopic rhyme in Italian sonnets (“amor”/“dolor”); apocopic rhyme in Spanish Golden Age poetry (“ciel”/“fiel”); apocopic rhyme uses truncated words to create rhyme; apocopic rhyme common in Romance languages with elided endings
Additional Notes
Rhyme using shortened (apocopated) word forms. Final syllable dropped ("th'" for "the"). Creates archaic or dialectal effect. Common in older verse. May affect meter and pronunciation. Consider period appropriateness.
Also Known As
truncated rhyme dropped ending rhyme
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