One of the several kinds of
metrical feet in
poetry, a dactyl is a foot containing syllables in the pattern STRESSED-UNSTRESSED-UNSTRESSED. The word "dactyl" comes from the
ancient Greek for "
finger", because a finger has three bones (
metacarpals) whose lengths correspond to the lengths of the syllables in a dactyl; compare "
rosy-fingered Dawn" and "
polydactylism".
The meter of classical epic poetry, such as the Iliad, Odyssey, and Aeneid, is dactyllic hexameter.