How to pronounce iamb
American English pronunciation
EYE-am
- IPA
- /ˈaɪˌæm/
- Syllables
- EYE · am (2 syllables, stress on the 1st)
- Also said
- EYE-um
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What iamb means
A beat in poetry of one weak syllable then one strong one
In a sentence: "Today" is an iamb, since you say it softly first and then strongly.
Where it comes from: It came into English from French in the mid-1800s, from the Latin iambus and the Greek iambos before that. It took the place of the older form iambus.
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