- a word or part of a word pronounced with a single, uninterrupted sounding of the voice; unit of pronunciation, consisting of a single sound of great sonority (usually a vowel) and generally one or more sounds of lesser sonority (usually consonants)
- any of the parts into which a written word is often divided, as at the end of a line, in approximate conformity to the spoken syllables
- the least bit of expression; slightest detail, as of something said
Origin of syllable
Middle English sillable from Old French sillabe from Classical Latin syllaba from Classical Greek syllab?, a syllable, literally , that which holds together from syllambanein, to join from syn-, together + lambanein, to hold from Indo-European base an unverified form (s)lagw-, to grasp from source latchtransitive verb
-·bled, -·bling to pronounce in or as in syllables
