kopje

Noun
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 small, steep-sided hill or rocky outcrop, especially in southern Africa.

Detailed Definition
A kopje is an isolated hill or rocky rise in the South African landscape. In the poem, Hodge’s grave is marked by a “kopje-crest,” making the unfamiliar terrain part of his final resting place.
Example
Example in poetry:
“His landmark is a kopje-crest” places the speaker among the small rocky hills of southern Africa; “Beyond the kopje, evening gathered purple cattle” shows the landform in a pastoral image; “We climbed a kopje to read the plain” uses it as a lookout point; In war verse, “guns answered from the kopjes” links the terrain to the South African campaigns
Additional Notes
“Kopje” is an unfamiliar South African landscape term in the quoted “kopje-crest.”; Found in the poem, Drummer Hodge by Thomas Hardy
Also Known As
hillock knoll outcrop
Skip to main content