thickedness
The word 'thick-headedness' is divided into three syllables: thic-ked-ness. The primary stress falls on the final syllable. It's morphologically composed of the prefix 'thick-', the root 'head-', and the suffix '-edness'. The syllable division follows rules of maximizing onsets and vowel-coda structure.
Definitions
- 1
The quality or state of being unintelligent, stubborn, or slow to understand.
“His thick-headedness prevented him from seeing the obvious solution.”
“She sighed at his thick-headedness and explained the concept again.”
Stress pattern
Primary stress falls on the third syllable ('ness'). The first two syllables are unstressed.
Syllables
thic — Closed syllable with a consonant cluster onset.. ked — Closed syllable with a single consonant onset and coda.. ness — Open syllable with a single consonant onset and no coda.
Word Parts
Similar Words
Maximizing Onsets
Consonants are assigned to the following syllable whenever possible to create valid syllable onsets.
Vowel-Coda Rule
Syllables generally end in a vowel sound or a sonorant consonant.
Vowel-Onset Rule
Every syllable must contain a vowel sound.
- The 'ck' digraph is treated as a single unit for syllable division.
- The schwa sound in the final syllable is typical of unstressed syllables in English.
Nearby Words
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