MORA

Mora

Mora is a unit in phonology that determines syllable weight, which in some languages determines stress or timing. The definition of a mora varies. Perhaps the most succinct working definition was provided by the American linguist James D. McCawley in 1968: a mora is “something of which a long syllable consists of two and a short syllable consists of one.” The term comes from the Latin word for “linger, delay”, which was also used to translate the Greek word chronos in its metrical sense.

The above text is a snippet from Wikipedia: Mora (linguistics)
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

mora

Noun

  1. A delay in bringing a claim.
  2. A unit used to measure lines and stanzas of poetry.
  3. A unit of syllable weight used in phonology, by which stress, foot structure, or timing of utterance is determined in some languages (e.g. Japanese).

Noun (etymology 2)

  1. Any tree of the genus Mora of large South American trees.

Noun (etymology 3)

  1. (finger-counting game)


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: mora
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

Need help with a clue?
Try your search in the crossword dictionary!