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Tears

World Religion
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

Drops of saline fluid from crying, often symbolizing grief, repentance, purification, or intense spiritual longing.

Detailed Definition
Tears hold significant religious meaning: as tears of compunction in Christianity washing away sin, tears of separation from God in Sufism, and tears of compassion in Buddhism. In poetry, tears are the liquid expression of the soul's deepest movements. They can be a river leading to God, a baptism of sorrow, or a sign of authentic contrition. Poets use tears to convey a depth of emotion that words alone cannot, representing the physical manifestation of inner spiritual states, from the bitterness of loss to the sweet agony of divine love.
Example
Example in poetry:
In biblical lament, Tears water hope: “Weeping may endure—Tears, seeds of morning joy”; In Sufi poetry, Tears are love’s rain: “My eyes—Tears that polish the mirror of the heart”; In contemporary elegy, Tears are witness: “Silent classroom—Tears for children lost to violence”; Poets sanctify Tears: “Not weakness—Tears are prayer when words fail.”
Additional Notes
Tears hold profound symbolic weight across religions: in Christianity, they signify repentance (Psalm 51) or divine compassion (Jesus weeping at Lazarus’s tomb); in Sufism, tears express longing for union with the Beloved; in Jewish tradition, tears are linked to exile and messianic hope; poets often use tears as a synecdoche for the soul’s vulnerability, purification, or the paradox of sorrow as a path to grace.
Also Known As
Lamentation Tears of Repentance
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