The English word ' trapeze' is an example of an iambic pair of syllables, since the word is made up of two syllables ('tra-peze') and is pronounced with the stress on the second syllable ('tra- PEZE', rather than ' TRA-peze'). When a pair of syllables is arranged as a short followed by a long, or an unstressed followed by a stressed, pattern, that foot is said to be 'iambic'.

An English unstressed syllable is equivalent to a classical short syllable, while an English stressed syllable is equivalent to a classical long syllable. In English, the rhythm is created through the use of stress, alternating between unstressed and stressed syllables. In Ancient Greek and Latin, the rhythm is created through the alternation of short and long syllables. Different languages express rhythm in different ways. They were adopted to describe the equivalent meters in English accentual-syllabic verse. These terms originally applied to the quantitative meter of classical poetry. The word 'pentameter' indicates that a line has five of these feet. The word ' iambic' describes the type of foot that is used (in English, an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable). That rhythm is measured in small groups of syllables these small groups of syllables are called ' feet'. The term describes the particular rhythm that the words establish in that line.

Iambic pentameter is a commonly used metrical line in traditional verse and verse drama.

Iambic pentameter shakespearean sonnet