Home › Glossary › Letter S

salamandrine

Adjective
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

Resembling a salamander, especially in being associated with fire or resistance to it.

Detailed Definition
In classical legend, salamanders were believed to live in or withstand fire. Hardy uses “salamandrine” to describe the Titanic’s powerful, fire-filled furnaces before the wreck lay cold beneath the sea.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Steel chambers, late the pyres / Of her salamandrine fires,” means fire-like or salamander-like; medieval lore imagined salamanders living in flames; “salamandrine heat” suggests uncanny endurance in fire; the rare adjective intensifies mythic rather than literal description
Additional Notes
“Salamandrine” is a rare mythological adjective, and the quoted context uses its unusual association with fire.; Found in the poem, The Convergence of the Twain by Thomas Hardy
Also Known As
fire-like fiery elemental salamander-like
Skip to main content