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Echo word

Sound
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 word that phonetically imitates or recalls another word’s sound, often used for mnemonic, humorous, or musical effect in verse.

Detailed Definition
An echo word is a term repeated within a poem—either identically or with slight variation—to produce an auditory or psychological echo that deepens resonance, underscores emotion, or signals thematic recurrence; such words often appear at line breaks or stanza ends, functioning as sonic anchors that tether disparate sections through familiar sound.
Example
Example in poetry:
In “The Raven,” “nevermore” is the quintessential echo word; In “Do Not Go Gentle,” “rage” functions as echo word; Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” uses “Ich, ich, ich, ich” as echo word; Contemporary poet Danez Smith uses “blood” as echo word in “Don’t Call Us Dead”; Echo words appear in liturgical responses (e.g., “amen”).
Additional Notes
A single word that is immediately repeated or closely echoed elsewhere in the line, phrase, or subsequent line, often to emphasize the word itself or to create a momentary sonic intensification; related to epizeuxis.
Also Known As
Echo-word play Repeated word Reflective word Sound-response word Ideophone Onomatopoeia
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