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decapitated 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 type of rhyme where the first syllable of the rhyming word is dropped, producing a clipped effect

Detailed Definition
Decapitated rhyme occurs when the initial consonant or syllable of a word is removed to create a slant or partial rhyme (e.g., “light” / “ight”), producing a jarring or playful effect that subverts traditional sonic expectations.
Example
Example in poetry:
Decapitated rhyme where final syllable dropped changes rhyme; “King/sing” vs “singin’”; Dialect showing truncated rhyme sound; Ending words clipped to half rhyme
Additional Notes
Decapitated rhyme occurs when the initial consonant or syllable of a word is removed to create a rhyming match (e.g., stream and dream where 's' is "removed" to match the rhyme); sometimes refers to apocope.
Also Known As
Headless rhyme acephalous rhyme truncated rhyme amputated rhyme
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