Dactyl
A kind of metrical foot. A dactyl is a
stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables: for
example, "Canada," "holiday," "camouflage." (The name comes
from the Greek for "finger" -- as in pterodactyl,
"winged-finger" -- and you can remember the pattern by thinking
of the three joints in a finger: long, short, short.)
Because a dactyl has three syllables, it's called a triple meter.
Classical epic poems were traditionally written in
both Greek and Latin in dactyllic hexameter.
From the Guide to Literary Terms by Jack Lynch.
Please send comments to jlynch@andromeda.rutgers.edu.
Note: This guide is still in the early stages of development. Bear with me.