Home › Glossary › Letter E

Enneasyllable

Meter
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

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

An enneasyllable is a nine-syllable line, frequently used in Italian and French prosody, and occasionally adapted in English verse.

Detailed Definition
An Enneasyllable is a line of verse containing exactly nine syllables, common in Romance-language poetry (e.g., Italian endecasillabo variants) and occasionally adapted in English for its asymmetrical, lyrical flow; it offers a middle ground between octosyllabic briskness and decasyllabic stateliness, suited to meditative or narrative modes.
Example
Example in poetry:
Enneasyllable: A nine-syllable line like “The autumn leaves fall silently now”—used in French versification and adapted in English experimental poetry.
Additional Notes
Nine-syllable line length. Less common than octosyllabic or decasyllabic but found in various traditions. Related to syllabic verse. Study poets experimenting with odd-numbered line lengths for effects between common meters.
Also Known As
Nine-syllable line Nine-beat verse Nonasyllabic measure Nine-count line
Skip to main content