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Cirque

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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 bowl-shaped hollow high in the mountains, carved by a glacier.

Detailed Definition
A cirque is a natural amphitheater of stone, often holding snow, ice, or a small mountain lake. Its enclosed form lends itself to poems of origin and aftermath, since it preserves traces of vanished glaciers. A poet may use its steep walls and cold silence to create a sense of enclosure, remoteness, or a world shaped slowly by pressure.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Above the trail, a cirque of cliffs held last winter’s snow”; A cirque can create a natural amphitheater: “Wind performed in the cirque, applauded by loose stone”; Use its bowl shape in comparison: “The cirque cradled the tarn as a palm cradles a tear”; Describe glacial history: “The old glacier had carved a cirque into the mountain’s shoulder”
Additional Notes
A cirque is a glacier-carved mountain hollow, often steep-walled and semicircular. It differs from a valley and may suggest enclosure, cold, and ancient change.
Also Known As
Corrie Cwm corries
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