Trochee, Trochaic
A kind of metrical foot. A trochee (the
adjective is "trochaic") is a stressed syllable followed by an
unstressed one:
Róund abóut the cáuldron gó,
Ín the póisoned éntrails thrów.
Because each foot consists of two syllables, the trochaic is
known as a duple meter. The other most
common duple meter is iambic, which is an
unstressed followed by a stressed syllable. Note that you can
distinguish iambic from trochaic meter only by examining the
first foot in a verse, since they both alternate stressed and
unstressed syllables.
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.