Origin: Latin suffix -able
Syllable has 3 different meanings across 1 category:
A unit of human speech that is interpreted by the listener as a single sound, although syllables usually consist of one or more vowel sounds, either alone or combined with the sound of one or more consonants; a word consists of one or more syllables.
"When my toddler learned to read, she struggled because I had told her that every syllable in a word counts as just one beat when clapping along to the rhythm."
To utter in syllables.
"She struggled to speak, barely managing to utter her name in distinct syllables before breaking into tears."
The word "syllable" comes from the Latin syllaba, which was borrowed from Ancient Greek. In Greek, it originally meant "a gathering together," derived from a verb meaning to take or gather things into one.