Notes on rhymes

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  • Two words are rhymes if they are stressed on the same syllable, counting from the end of the words, and are pronounced identically from the vowel in their stressed syllable to the end, but may have different consonants immediately before that vowel.
  • Wiktionary follows this strict definition of a rhyme. For example:
    • comprado, hacendado and estrado are all rhymes, because they are all stressed on the penultimate syllable and are pronounced identically from the vowel sound in that syllable to the end of the word.
    • dividido and líquido are not rhymes, as they are stressed on different syllables (the penultimate and antepenultimate syllables, respectively).
  • All the rhymes are made in Standard Spanish. Rhymes in other dialects may be made.

Note: There are several types of rhymes that may be used in Spanish poetry. The above is called “perfect rhyme” (rima perfecta or rima consonante), which is basically the kind of rhyme used in English poetry. This type of rhyme starts with the last stressed vowel in the line of poetry, may contain either one or two syllables, and the vowels as well as the consonants rhyme (from the last stressed vowel to the end of the word). If the word stress is on the penultimate syllable, the rhyme has two syllables and is called a feminine rhyme. If the ultimate syllable is stressed, there is only a single syllable in the rhyme and it is called a masculine rhyme.

While it is possible for rhymes to have three or four syllables, it is very rare. Rhymes of three syllables are called rima esdrújula (palabra esdrújula or verso esdrújulo). Rhymes of four or more syllables are called rima sobresdrújula (palabra sobresdrújula or verso sobresdrújulo).

In perfect rhyme, the rhyme always starts with the last stressed vowel of a line of poetry. In the case of diphthongs and triphthongs, the last stressed vowel refers to the primary vowel, so a preceding weak vowel is not included as part of the rhyme. Therefore, both ie and ue are equivalent to e.

Some examples of feminine rhyme (two syllables in the rhyme) used in versos llanos:
  • abiertas
  • alertas
  • puertas
  • actúo
  • búho
  • continúo
Some examples of masculine rhyme (one syllable in the rhyme) used in versos agudos:
  • amor
  • campeador
  • flor
  • señor
  • corazón
  • información
  • pasión
  • razón

In assonant rhyme (rima asonante), the rhyme starts with the last stressed vowel in the line of poetry, and all of the following vowels must the same in the rhymed words. Consonants are ignored, and the weak vowels in diphthongs and triphthongs are ignored as well.

Some examples of assonant rhyme:
  • canta (-a-a-)
  • jaula
  • matan
  • palmas
  • patria
  • Juan (-a-)
  • habláis
  • mar
  • más
  • tomad
  • césped (-e-e-)
  • sartenes
  • siete
  • vaivenes
  • vienes

Organization of rhymes

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Rhymes in Wiktionary are organized using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

List of rhymes

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  • a- (35 entries)
  • e- (33 entries)
  • i- (27 entries)
  • o- (28 entries)
  • u- (14 entries)