bisyllabic

English

Etymology

bi- +‎ syllabic

Pronunciation

Adjective

bisyllabic (not comparable)

  1. Comprising two syllables.

Usage notes
  • Bisyllabic is often considered malformed by prescriptive language users, it being an etymological hybrid of Latin (bi-) and Greek (syllabic) roots; the term disyllabic is generally preferred by such commentators (it features di-, the Grecian equivalent of the Latinate bi-), and also occurs far more frequently in common usage.[1][2][3][4]
  • However, some linguists use the term bisyllabic.

Synonyms

Translations
comprising two syllables — see disyllabic

References
  1. The Corpus of Contemporary American English: disyllabic (34) vs. bisyllabic (2): Disyllabic is seventeen times more common than bisyllabic in this corpus.
  2. The British National Corpus (BYU–BNC): disyllabic (18) vs. bisyllabic (1): Disyllabic is eighteen times more common than bisyllabic in this corpus.
  3. The Time Magazine Corpus of American English: disyllabic (0), dissyllabic (1) vs. bisyllabic (1): Bisyllabic and dissyllabic (a superseded spelling of disyllabic) occur equally often in this corpus.
  4. The Oxford English Dictionary (BYU–OED): disyllabic (7), dissyllabic (6) vs. bisyllabic (1): Disyllabic and dissyllabic, taken together, are thirteen times more common than bisyllabic in the entire text of this dictionary.
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