Scansion
/ˈskæn.ʃən/noun
The analysis or arrangement of a line of poetry by its metrical patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables.
Did you know?Scansion comes from Latin scandere, meaning “to climb,” because ancient meter was imagined as a rising, stepping movement of sound.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*skand-
“to climb, leap”
Latin
Latin
scandere
“to climb; to mount; to step or rise by stages”
Late Latin
Latin
scansio
“a climbing; a stepping up”
Middle French
Old French
scansion
“a measuring of verse by its feet or rhythm”
16th Century
English
scansion
“the analysis of verse meter by counting and marking its rhythmic feet”
Modern English
English
scansion
“the pattern or analysis of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry”