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partlet

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

A poetic or archaic term for a hen or female bird, often used allegorically in fables such as Chaucer's "The Nun's Priest's Tale."

Detailed Definition
Partlet is an old literary word for a hen, often used in fables and children’s stories. The child says he has a tale “about a partlet and her brood,” which signals a story about a mother hen and her chicks.
Example
Example in poetry:
Chaucer’s Pertelote in “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale” is a barnyard hen, a literary ancestor of the partlet; “A partlet clucked beneath the hedge,” using the word for a hen; In country verse, “the partlet and her brood” evokes domestic care; “The fox watched the partlet scratch at dawn,” placing the bird in a farm scene
Additional Notes
The word “partlet” is a rare old term for a hen, so many modern readers would need to look it up.; Found in the poem, A Child To His Sick Grandfather by Joanna Baillie
Also Known As
neckpiece ruff collar adornment
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