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exoskeletons

Fauna
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

Hard outer coverings that support and protect the bodies of some animals, especially insects and crustaceans.

Detailed Definition
An exoskeleton is the rigid external skeleton found in many invertebrates. In the poem, the word helps describe early animal life and gives the evolutionary imagery a scientific tone.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Silent contractions, in exoskeletons strong” evokes an insect’s outer shell; “Cicadas split their exoskeletons on bark”; “Crabs carry armored exoskeletons through foam”; “Beneath its exoskeleton, the beetle waits”
Additional Notes
The word in "exoskeletons strong" is a technical biology term that ordinary readers may need to look up.; Found in the poem, Tides of Time by Richard
Also Known As
exoskeletal armor outer shell protective casing carapace
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