dactyl

• dactyle, dactile

A dactyl is like a finger, having one long part followed by two short stretches.

From Latin dactylus, from Ancient Greek δάκτυλος (dáktulos, “a finger”), three bones of the finger corresponding to three syllables.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdæktɪɫ/

• Audio (Southern England)

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dactyl (plural dactyls)

1. A metrical foot of three syllables (— ⏑ ⏑), one long followed by two short, or one accented followed by two unaccented.
   • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 1: Telemachus]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part I [Telemachia], page 4:

     —My name is absurd too: Malachi Mulligan, two dactyls. But it has a Hellenic ring, hasn't it?

• double dactyl

• dactylic
• polydactyl

• anapest
• spondee
• finger