Trimeters

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of poetic meter consisting of three metrical feet in each line
2. A structural rhythm in poetry characterized by the use of three feet per measure
3. A form of verse often employed in classical poetry where each line features three repeated units of rhythm

Etymology: "Trimeters" is the plural of "trimeter", a line of verse made of three metrical feet (the metric units of a line). The word is a plain compound: "tri-", from the Greek numerical prefix meaning "three", joined to "meter", from the Greek "metron", meaning "measure". In English it is a technical coinage built from these classical parts rather than a word that existed in ancient Greek or Latin as a poetic term. The stem "meter" is the more interesting half. Its ancestor "metron" meant simply a measure or a limit, and the same root gave English words for measuring instruments and units of length. Attaching "tri-" turns a general idea of measurement into a precise count: each line is measured out in exactly three of the repeating units that structure its rhythm.