dactyl

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a metrical foot consisting of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables, or one long syllable followed by two short ones

   The word merrily can be heard as a dactyl in English verse.

2. 2
   noun

   a finger, toe, or corresponding digit of a vertebrate, especially in technical anatomy or zoology

   The fossil preserved the terminal dactyl of the animal's forelimb.

A learned borrowing through Latin dactylus from Ancient Greek daktylos, 'finger.' Grammarians compared the dactyl's three syllables with a finger's three bones: one long element followed by two short ones.

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