noun
- plural of mora: a unit of sound used in prosody equal to the length of a short syllable
Usage: linguistics; prosody
Examples
- The Japanese language is organized around moras rather than syllables.
- Each mora in Japanese takes roughly the same amount of time to pronounce.
- The word ‘Tokyo’ consists of four moras: to-u-kyo-u.
- Haiku are traditionally counted by moras, not syllables.
- Understanding moras is essential for proper Japanese pronunciation.
- The poet carefully counted the moras in each line.