a common meter in poetry consisting of an unrhymed line with five feet or accents, each foot containing an unaccented syllable and an accented syllable
French iambique 'of a foot or verse' and Greek pentameter 'measure of five'
The most common meter in English verse. It consists of a line ten syllables long that is accented on every second beat (see blank verse). These lines in iambic pentameter are from The Merchant of Venice, by William Shakespeare:
&Ibreve;n sóoth,/&Ibreve; knów/nŏt whý/&Ibreve; ám/sŏ sád.
&Ibreve;t wéa/riěs mé;/yŏu sáy/ĭt wéa/riěs yóu&ellipsis4;