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Rib

Anatomy
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

One of the curved bones protecting the chest, often associated with shelter, fragility, and the body as enclosure.

Detailed Definition
In poetry, ribs can suggest both protection and exposure. They form a cage around the heart and lungs, so their visible outline may evoke hunger, illness, desire, or mortality. A poet may describe ribs as bars, branches, hoops, or the framework of a ruined house, transforming anatomy into architectural or natural imagery. Ribs also carry mythic and religious associations in some traditions, allowing poems to consider origins, gender, creation, and the uneasy closeness of bodies.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Grief stood behind my ribs” places emotion inside the body without naming it abstractly; A poet might write “the laugh rose between her ribs” to show joy as physical pressure; “His ribs were the bars of a small cage” uses anatomy as a metaphor for confinement; “Wind pressed against the ribs of the old boat” compares a boat’s frame to a human chest
Additional Notes
Ribs form a protective cage around the heart and lungs, so they can suggest shelter as well as confinement. Their curved, fragile structure suits images of breath, grief, and bodily memory.
Other Meanings of “Rib”
Also Known As
Costal Bone
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