What does choree mean?
A choree is a unit of poetic metre consisting of two syllables, the first stressed (or long) and the second unstressed (or short). It is better known under its far more common name, the trochee. The term belongs to the vocabulary of prosody — the study of rhythm in verse — where such feet are combined to build lines of poetry, as in trochaic metre. A familiar illustration is the phrase "Double, double toil and trouble," whose opening units fall into this falling, strong–weak rhythm. Because "choree" appears almost exclusively in academic treatments of classical Greek and Latin versification, most writers should prefer "trochee" unless deliberately invoking older terminology. Its very obscurity makes it a curiosity: a word whose roots lie in the Greek for "dance," reminding us that poetry's rhythms were once inseparable from song and movement.
nounA metrical foot in classical and English prosody consisting of two syllables, the first stressed or long and the second unstressed or short; more commonly called a trochee.
- A two-syllable metrical foot with stress on the first syllable and no stress on the second; a trochee.
"The line opens with a forceful choree that drives the rhythm forward."
"Scanning the poem, she marked each choree with a long stroke followed by a short one."
"Classical prosodists distinguished the choree from the iamb chiefly by which syllable carried the beat."
Standard regular plural; used when discussing multiple instances of the foot within a line or poem.
"The hexameter's opening chorees gave it a stately, processional gait."
Before it was called a trochee, this dancing rhythm of verse borrowed its name straight from the Greek word for dance itself.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of choree
The word derives from the Greek adjective khoreios ("of the chorus" or "suitable for dancing"), formed on the noun khoreia ("dance"), which also gives us "chorus" and "choreography." It passed into Latin and thence into European learned vocabulary as a technical term of prosody, used alongside and largely displaced by "trochee," which comes from the related Greek word trokhaios ("running wheel"). Both terms entered English through Renaissance and early modern scholarship on classical metre.
How choree is actually used
"Choree" is a rare, scholarly synonym of "trochee," encountered mainly in discussions of classical Greek and Latin metre rather than everyday usage. Most modern readers and even many poets will know only "trochee."
Easily confused with choree
A chore is an ordinary domestic or routine task, while a choree is a technical term for a two-syllable metrical foot in poetry.