syllable

This term describes the rhythmic building blocks of spoken language. It is a phonetic concept rather than a visual one, meaning the number of syllables depends on how a word is pronounced rather than how it is spelled. For instance, a silent letter does not contribute to the syllable count. In poetry and linguistics, syllables create the meter and cadence of a phrase. The distinction between stressed and unstressed syllables is what gives English its characteristic rhythmic flow, distinguishing it from syllable-timed languages where each unit typically carries equal weight.