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A.Word.A.Day--hendecasyllabic hendecasyllabic (hen-dek-uh-si-LAB-ik) adjective Having eleven syllables. noun A word or line of eleven syllables. [From Latin hendecasyllabus, from Greek hendekasyllabos, from hendeca- (eleven), from hen, neuter of heis (one) + deka (ten), + syllabic.] Read Alfred, Lord Tennyson's Hendecasyllabics. "There are those long, elaborate, beautifully balanced sentences, with their trailing clusters of dependent clauses, frequently so arranged as to reproduce the characteristic hendecasyllabic rhythms of Italian poetry." T. Gwynfor Griffith; Obituary: Professor G. H. McWilliam; Independent (London, UK); Jan 11, 2001. "If he were alive today, the great Roman poet, Catullus, master of the hendecasyllabic metre, would likely be front and centre in the savage war on words and the importance of hourly grammar drills in the Alberta education system." Bill Sass; The Savage War on Words And the Particulars of Grammar; Edmonton Journal (Canada); Nov 8, 2001. This week's theme: words related to the number eleven. X-Bonus There is no beautifier of complexion, or form, or behavior, like the wish to scatter joy and not pain around us. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882)

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