anapaest

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   prosody: a metrical foot of three syllables in which two unstressed syllables are followed by one stressed syllable

   The phrase 'in the dark' forms an anapaest when dark receives the stress.

Through Latin anapaestus from Greek anapaistos, 'struck back or reversed,' from anapaiein, 'to strike back.' Ancient metricians viewed its two short syllables followed by a long one as the reverse of a dactyl. Anapest is the usual US spelling; anapaest is standard in British usage.

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