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silicon

Noun
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 hard, gray chemical element used in computer chips and electronics. In poetry, it often suggests the digital world.

Detailed Definition
Silicon is a chemical element widely used in semiconductors and computer hardware. In this poem, it helps build the image of a mind or dream made from technology rather than flesh. The word is common in technical contexts, but still specialized enough that some readers may pause over it.
Example
Example in poetry:
Silicon dreams make reality “isn’t what it seems” — contemporary lyric example; In computer-age poetry, silicon can signify chips, data, or artificial thought; The silicon valley glows blue beneath the server farms; A silicon heart contrasts machine calculation with human feeling
Additional Notes
The word appears in the technical phrase "silicon dreams," and readers may need to identify the material and its computer-related sense.; Found in the poem, Electric Dreams by Richard
Other Meanings of “silicon”
Also Known As
silicon-based semiconductor crystalline elemental
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