syllabary

C2+ Topic:Language & Linguistics

US /ˈsɪləˌbɛri/ UK /ˈsɪləbəri/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a set of written characters each representing a syllable

Japanese hiragana is a syllabary rather than an alphabet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a set of written characters... scriptsyllabarium

Opposites

alphabet

Word family

Related forms syllable syllabic

Etymology

A modern formation from syllable (from Latin syllaba, from Ancient Greek syllabē 'that which holds together, a syllable', from syn- 'together' + lambanein 'to take') with the suffix -ary.

syllabē Ancient Greek lambánein Ancient Greek

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Language & Linguistics Word Formation & Derivatives General Vocabulary

External links

# syllabary

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈsɪləˌbɛri/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈsɪləbəri/

## Meanings
1. a set of written characters each representing a syllable

## Examples
- Japanese hiragana is a syllabary rather than an alphabet.

## Synonyms
- script
- syllabarium

## Antonyms
- alphabet

## Related Forms
- syllable
- syllabic

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: syllabē
- Root: lambánein

## Etymology
A modern formation from syllable (from Latin syllaba, from Ancient Greek syllabē 'that which holds together, a syllable', from syn- 'together' + lambanein 'to take') with the suffix -ary.

## AI Etymology
Syllabary is a modern formation from syllable (from Latin syllaba, from Ancient Greek syllabē 'that which holds together, a syllable', from syn- 'together' + lambanein 'to take') with the suffix -ary. Important recorded forms include syllabē (Ancient Greek) and lambánein (Ancient Greek). Morphologically, the word preserves a built structure whose named elements carry the historical sense into English. The modern sense is largely compositional, with the historical elements narrowing into a stable English lexical item. In current use it covers a set of written characters each representing a syllable. The wider family includes related words such as syllable and syllabic.

## Topics
- Language & Linguistics
- Word Formation & Derivatives
- General Vocabulary

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