Home › Glossary › Letter E

Epitrite measure

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

A classical metrical foot containing three long syllables and one short syllable

Detailed Definition
A classical metrical foot consisting of three long syllables and one short syllable in various arrangements, creating a four-syllable unit with specific quantitative patterns. In classical Greek and Latin prosody, where syllable length rather than stress determines meter, the epitrite appears in several forms depending on the short syllable's position. This technical term remains more relevant for classical languages than English stress-based meter.
Example
Example in poetry:
Classical Greek epitrite measure combines long and short syllables in 3:1 ratio; Latin poetry used epitrite in choral odes; English approximations appear in Hopkins’s sprung rhythm; Robert Bridges’s “Eros and Psyche” uses epitritic variation; Modernist poets like Pound adapted epitrite in “Homage to Sextus Propertius”; Contemporary poets like Annie Finch use quantitative meters including epitrite.
Additional Notes
Technical term from classical prosody requiring understanding of quantitative meter. One long syllable equals two short syllables. More relevant for classical languages than English.
Also Known As
Epitritic foot Classical four-syllable Three-long-one-short foot
Skip to main content