Elision is the partial suppression of the end of a word when reading Latin verse, occurring when a word ends in a vowel, a vowel + m, or a diphthong, and the next word begins with a vowel, a diphthong, or h. The elided syllable does not count in scansion (CED EK under 4.1.E).
Elision is what happens when two words in a line of Latin poetry run into each other. When one word ends in a vowel, a vowel followed by m, or a diphthong, and the next word begins with a vowel, a diphthong, or an h, the end of the first word gets partially suppressed when you read the verse aloud. Think of it like a contraction you make on the fly. English does this too when "going to" becomes "gonna." The Romans just built it into how poetry sounds.
The practical payoff is in scansion. An elided syllable drops out of the metrical count, so a line that looks like it has too many syllables for dactylic hexameter usually has an elision hiding in it. Take monstrum horrendum in the Aeneid: the -um of monstrum elides before the h- of horrendum, and you read it roughly as monstr'horrendum. If you scan a line and the feet refuse to work out, hunt for a vowel-meets-vowel (or vowel + m meets h) collision first. That is the fix nine times out of ten.
Elision lives in the essential knowledge for Topic 4.1 (Vergil, Aeneid Book 1, Lines 1-33) under learning objective 4.1.E: Describe features of meter in Latin poetry, and it comes back in Topic 6.14 under 6.14.A, where the CED reminds you that all epic poetry is composed in dactylic hexameter. You cannot scan hexameter reliably without spotting elisions, because every elision removes a syllable from the line. Since the AP Latin exam tests your ability to describe and demonstrate metrical features of Vergil's verse, elision is one of the small mechanical skills that quietly decides whether your scansion is right or wrong. It also matters for reading comprehension. Hearing where words blur together is part of hearing the poem the way Vergil's audience did.
Keep studying AP Latin Unit 6
Dactylic Hexameter (Units 4 & 6)
Elision only makes sense inside a meter. Hexameter demands six feet of dactyls and spondees, and elision is the escape valve that lets Vergil fit words into that pattern. When a line seems to have one syllable too many, an elision has almost certainly absorbed it.
Dactyl (Unit 4)
A dactyl is one long syllable followed by two shorts, and counting those syllables correctly depends on elision. An elided syllable vanishes from the count entirely, so missing an elision will turn what should be a clean dactyl into metrical nonsense.
Aeneid (Units 4 & 6)
The required Latin readings for meter all come from the Aeneid, starting with Book 1, lines 1-33. Vergil uses elision constantly, sometimes for pure mechanics and sometimes for effect, like words physically crashing together in a violent or emotional moment.
Anaphora (Unit 4)
Both are devices you identify in Vergil's Latin, but they live on different levels. Anaphora is a rhetorical figure (repeated words for emphasis), while elision is a sound-and-meter feature. The exam expects you to handle both kinds of analysis, often in the same passage.
Elision shows up wherever the exam asks you to work with meter, which falls under learning objective 4.1.E (describe features of meter in Latin poetry). The classic task is scanning lines of dactylic hexameter from the Aeneid, and marking elisions correctly is part of a correct scansion. An elided syllable gets struck from the count, usually marked with a curved line linking the two words. Elision also appeared on the 2025 exam in a short-answer question, so this is live, current exam material, not background trivia. Know the trigger conditions cold: final vowel, final vowel + m, or final diphthong, followed by an initial vowel, diphthong, or h. Multiple-choice questions can also test whether you recognize that h does not block elision, which is the detail that trips people up most.
The CED says elision is the act of partially suppressing the end of a word, not erasing it. When you read aloud, the elided sound gets swallowed into the next word rather than skipped like it never existed. For scansion purposes, though, treat it as gone: the elided syllable does not count toward the feet of the line. So the distinction is partly about performance (you slur it) versus counting (you drop it).
Elision is the partial suppression of a word's final syllable when reading Latin verse aloud.
Elision happens when a word ends in a vowel, a vowel plus m, or a diphthong, and the next word starts with a vowel, a diphthong, or an h.
An elided syllable does not count when you scan a line, so a line with too many syllables for dactylic hexameter probably contains an elision.
The letter h does not block elision, which means a final vowel before an h-word still elides.
Elision falls under CED learning objective 4.1.E in Topic 4.1 and connects to 6.14.A, since all epic poetry, including the Aeneid, is in dactylic hexameter.
Final m elides too, so monstrum horrendum reads as monstr'horrendum, with both the -um and the silent h cooperating.
Elision is the partial suppression of the end of a word when reading Latin verse. Per the AP Latin CED, it happens when a word ends in a vowel, a vowel + m, or a diphthong, and the next word begins with a vowel, a diphthong, or an h.
No. An elided syllable drops out of the metrical count, so when you scan dactylic hexameter you cross it out (or mark it with a link) and build your six feet from the syllables that remain.
No, and this is the most common mistake. Because Latin h was barely pronounced, a word ending in a vowel, vowel + m, or diphthong still elides before a word starting with h, as in monstrum horrendum.
Dactyls and spondees are types of metrical feet, the building blocks of a hexameter line. Elision is not a foot at all; it is a sound rule that removes a syllable before you start dividing the line into feet. Get the elisions first, then mark the feet.
Yes. Meter is an explicit learning objective (4.1.E), scansion of Vergil's hexameter requires marking elisions correctly, and elision appeared in a short-answer question on the 2025 exam.