dactyl

-dac·tyl

a metrical foot consisting, in Greek and Latin verse, of one long syllable followed by two short ones, or, as in English verse, of one accented syllable followed by two unaccented ones (Ex.: “táke h?r ?p | ténd?rl?”)
Zool. a finger or toe

Origin of dactyl

Middle English dactil from Classical Latin dactylus from Classical Greek daktylos, a finger or (by analogy with the three joints of a finger) a dactyl

Link/Cite

Link to this page

Cite this page

MLA Style

"dactyl." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 15 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/dactyl>.

APA Style

dactyl. (n.d.). Retrieved January 15th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/dactyl

dactyl

noun

a. A metrical foot consisting of one accented syllable followed by two unaccented, as in flattery.
b. A metrical foot in quantitative verse consisting of one long syllable followed by two short syllables.
A finger, toe, or similar part or structure; a digit.

Origin of dactyl

Middle English dactil from Latin dactylus from Greek daktulos finger, toe, dactyl ( the three syllables of a dactyl being likened to the three phalanges of a finger )

Related Forms:

dac·tyl′ic
adjective
noun

dac·tyl′i·cal·ly
adverb

-dactyl

suffix

Having digits of a specified number or kind: zygodactyl.

Origin of -dactyl

From Greek daktulos finger, toe

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Link/Cite

Link to this page

Cite this page

MLA Style

"dactyl." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 15 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/dactyl>.

APA Style

dactyl. (n.d.). Retrieved January 15th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/dactyl

Noun

(plural dactyls)

A poetical foot of three syllables (— ~ ~), one long followed by two short, or one accented followed by two unaccented.

Origin

From Ancient Greek δάκτυλος (daktulos, “a finger”), three bones of the finger corresponding to three syllables.

Prefix

Alternative form of dactylo-.

English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.

Link/Cite

Link to this page

Cite this page

MLA Style

"dactyl." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 15 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/dactyl>.

APA Style

dactyl. (n.d.). Retrieved January 15th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/dactyl

dactyl - Medical Definition

A finger, toe, or similar part or structure; a digit.

Related Forms:

dac·tyl′ic (-tĭl′ĭk)
adj., n.

dac·tyl′i·cal·ly
adv.

Link/Cite

Link to this page

Cite this page

MLA Style

"dactyl." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 15 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/dactyl>.

APA Style

dactyl. (n.d.). Retrieved January 15th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/dactyl

dactyl

dactyl

-dactyl

dactyl - Medical Definition

Sentence Examples

Related

Also Mentioned In

WORDS NEAR dactyl IN THE DICTIONARY

dactyl

dactyl

-dactyl

dactyl - Medical Definition

Sentence Examples

Related

Also Mentioned In

WORDS NEAR dactyl IN THE DICTIONARY

Join YourDictionary today