Standard Lemma guide

iamb

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈaɪəm/
  • UK: /ˈaɪˌæm/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈaɪˌæm/

1

noun

Meaning 1

A metrical foot in verse consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, phonology, prosody, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a metrical unit with unstressed-stressed syllables

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: iambus

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: metrical foot, foot, metrical unit

History

Etymology

From French iambe in the mid-1800s, from Latin ïambus, from Ancient Greek ἴαμβος (íambos). Displaced iambus which shares the same classical origin.

Across languages

Translations

37 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: յամբ (yamb) — a metrical foot
  • Belarusian: ямб (jamb) — a metrical foot
  • Bulgarian: ямб (jamb) — a metrical foot
  • Catalan: iambe — a metrical foot
  • Chinese Mandarin: 抑揚格 /抑扬格 (yìyánggé) — a metrical foot
  • Czech: jamb — a metrical foot
  • Danish: jambe — a metrical foot
  • Dutch: jambe — a metrical foot
  • Esperanto: jambo — a metrical foot
  • Estonian: jamb — a metrical foot
  • Faroese: øvutur tvíliður — a metrical foot
  • Finnish: jambi — a metrical foot
  • French: ïambe — a metrical foot
  • Galician: iambo — a metrical foot
  • Georgian: იამბი (iambi) — a metrical foot
  • German: Jambus — a metrical foot
  • Ancient Greek: ἴαμβος (íambos) — a metrical foot
  • Hungarian: jambus — a metrical foot
  • Irish: iambus — a metrical foot
  • Italian: giambo — a metrical foot
  • Japanese: アイアンブ (aianbu) — a metrical foot
  • Latin: ïambus — a metrical foot
  • Latvian: jambs — a metrical foot
  • Lithuanian: jámbas — a metrical foot
  • Malay: iambus — a metrical foot
  • Norwegian: jambe — a metrical foot
  • Occitan: iambe — a metrical foot
  • Polish: jamb — a metrical foot
  • Portuguese: iambo — a metrical foot
  • Romanian: iamb — a metrical foot
  • Russian: ямб (jamb) — a metrical foot
  • Serbo-Croatian: jȁmb — a metrical foot
  • Serbo-Croatian: ја̏мб — a metrical foot
  • Slovak: jamb — a metrical foot
  • Spanish: yambo — a metrical foot
  • Swedish: jamb — a metrical foot
  • Ukrainian: ямб (jamb) — a metrical foot