Spondee

An spondee is a metrical foot used in formal poetry. It consists of two long syllables. This makes it a unique type of metre in English verse as all the other metric forms contain no more than one long syllable.

It is impossible to construct a whole, serious poem with spondees. So spondees mainly occur as variants within, say, an anapaestic structure.

For example (from G. K. Chesterton, Lepanto):

White founts falling in the courts of the sun

And the Soldan of Byzantium is smiling as they run;

This whole verse is rather unusual in structure, making it difficult as an example, unfortunately. The following is a possible, analysis, and shows the role of the spondee.

The basic template for both lines is anapaestic tatrameter: four feet, each consisting of two short syllables then a long syllable (duh-duh-DAH, duh-duh-DAH, duh-duh-DAH, duh-duh-DAH). It is then heavily modified:
The second, third and fourth feet in the second line each has three instead of two short syllables (duh-duh-duh-DAH).
The first anapaest in the first line is replaced with a spondee ("White founts," DAH-DAH)
The second anapaest in the first line is replaced with a trochee (DAH-duh).

A simpler version of the first line might be:

There are white fountains falling in the courts of the sun .

Two short syllables are added at the beginning, and "founts" is lengthened to "fountains." These extra syllables add "filler," so that when the poem is read stress no longer naturally falls on the syllable "fount" (or, does so to a lesser degree). As a result there are unstressed syllables just before the "fall," so that naturally becomes an anapaest ("fountains fall-," duh-duh-DAH), and the "ing" slips into the following anapaest. Chesterton's original version changes all this; it is less intuitive to write and has a more unusual sound. The spondee effects this.

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Spondee

Modern Translation: Spondee

Language		Translations for "spondee"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		spondei. (various references)

Arabic		‏السبوندية تفعيلة ذات مقطعين. (various references)

Bulgarian		спондей. (various references)

Danish		ordliste til brug ved audiometri (spondee list, word list). (various references)

Dutch		woordenlijst (spondee list, word list). (various references)

French		spondée. (various references)

German		spondeus. (various references)

Greek		σπονδείοσ, μετρικόσ (metric, metrical). (various references)

Hungarian		spondeus. (various references)

Italian		spondeo. (various references)

Manx		spondee. (various references)

Pig Latin		ondeespay

Portuguese		espondeu. (various references)

Russian		спондей. (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		spondej. (various references)

Spanish		espondeo. (various references)

Swedish		sponde. (various references)

Turkish		iki uzun heceli sözcük. (various references)

Ukrainian		спондей. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Derivations & Misspellings: Spondee

Rhyming with "Spondee"

Anagrams: Spondee

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Direct Anagrams: depones.
	Words within the letters "d-e-e-n-o-p-s"
	-1 letter: depone, depose, donees, epodes, opened, peones, speedo.
	-2 letters: deeps, denes, dense, donee, dopes, epode, needs, neeps, nodes, nosed, opens, pedes, peens, pends, penes, peons, ponds, pones, posed, sonde, speed, spend, spode.
	-3 letters: deep, dees, dene, dens, does, done, dons, dope, dose, ends, eons, epos, need, neep, node, nods, noes, nope, nose, odes, ones.
	Words containing the letters "d-e-e-n-o-p-s"
	+1 letter: pentodes, spondees.
	+2 letters: deponents, desponded, endoscope, endosperm, endospore, geepounds, overspend, pensioned, ponderers, pondweeds, responded, responder, spodumene, unexposed.
	+3 letters: deceptions, depletions, depression, despondent, diphosgene, diplotenes, dopinesses, empoisoned, endophytes, endoscopes, endosperms, endospores, expounders, headphones, interposed, kinescoped, necropsied, nonexposed, overspends, penholders, pentoxides, personated, phenoxides, prednisone, promenades, provenders, respondent, responders, spodumenes, stenotyped, subpoenaed, terpenoids.
	+4 letters: compensated, comprehends, copresented, copresident, deployments, deportments, depressions, desperation, despoilment, despondence, despondency, diphosgenes, encompassed, endopodites, endoscopies, expeditions, idempotents, outspeeding, overexpands, overrespond, overspender, pedogeneses, pedogenesis, personified, pointedness, precensored, prednisones, premonished, previsioned, probenecids, proceedings, promenaders, providences, recompensed, redemptions, respondents, ropedancers, supermodern, tenpounders, underexpose, unemployeds, unprocessed, unprofessed, unstoppered, videophones, zeptosecond.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Poetry	Verse, rhyme, assonance, crambo, meter, measure, foot, numbers, strain, rhythm; accentuation; (voice); dactyl, spondee, trochee, anapest; hexameter, pentameter; Alexandrine; anacrusis, antispast, blank verse, ictus.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "spondee": spondees. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Spondee" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: spendy, spinde, spond, spondere, spondy, sponid, sponse, sponte, Spoonie, spunee. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Spondee

Definition: Spondee

Spondee

Noun

Synonyms within Context: Spondee

Poetry

Specialty Definition: Spondee

Crosswords: Spondee

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Spondee

spondee

Modern Translation: Spondee

Albanian

Arabic

Bulgarian

Danish

Dutch

French

German

Greek

Hungarian

Italian

Manx

Pig Latin

Portuguese

Russian

Serbo-Croatian

Spanish

Swedish

Turkish

Ukrainian

Derivations & Misspellings: Spondee

Derivations

Misspellings

Rhyming with "Spondee"

Anagrams: Spondee

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

INDEX

Expression	Frequency per Day
spondee	3
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.