ladiesinwaiting
The compound noun 'ladies-in-waiting' is syllabified as la-dies-in-wait-ing, with primary stress on 'wait'. It's composed of 'ladies', 'in', and 'waiting', following standard English syllabification rules based on vowel-consonant patterns and weak syllable reduction.
Definitions
- 1
Women who attend to a queen or princess.
“The Queen was surrounded by her ladies-in-waiting.”
Stress pattern
Primary stress on the third syllable ('wait'), secondary stress on the first syllable ('la').
Syllables
la — Open syllable, initial syllable.. dies — Closed syllable, vowel followed by consonant cluster.. in — Open syllable, weak syllable, often reduced.. wait — Open syllable, diphthong followed by consonant.. ing — Closed syllable, vowel followed by nasal consonant cluster.
Similar Words
Vowel-Consonant (VC)
Syllables generally end in vowels.
Consonant Clusters
Consonant clusters are often split, but maintained within a syllable if they form a recognizable phonetic unit.
Weak Syllables
Unstressed syllables (like 'in') are often shorter and can be reduced.
- The hyphenated structure requires treating each component as a separate word for initial syllabification.
- Pronunciation of 'ladies' can vary slightly.
Nearby Words
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