syllable
noun
Simple meaning
A unit of human speech which often forms words corresponding to one opening of the mouth.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
siluhbuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsɪləbəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
linguistics
A unit of human speech which often forms words corresponding to one opening of the mouth; a vowel and its surrounding consonants.
The written representation of a given pronounced syllable.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A unit of human speech which often forms words corresponding to one opening of the mouth; a vowel and its surrounding consonants.
Used this way, syllable is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a grammar or language-study use: it describes how language works, so it appears in teaching and reference writing.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Academic writing
- Education/classroom
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use syllable
- “The word `pocket' has two syllables.”noun
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The admissible arrangement of sounds in words.
One of the names for notes of a musical scale in solmization.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
A writing system whose characters represent syllables.
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “syllable” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.