Pyrrhic

Pyrrhic is an adjective with several related senses in history, literature, and prosody. It derives from the Greek Pyrrhos, meaning “flame-colored” or “red-haired,” and was used as a personal name for the ancient king Pyrrhus of Epirus.

Historically, a pyrrhic victory denotes a win gained at such a high cost that it resembles a defeat. The term is associated with Pyrrhus’ campaigns against Rome during the Pyrrhic War (280–275 BCE); his narrowly won battles inflicted heavy casualties on his own forces. The phrase is widely used in modern discourse to describe outcomes whose costs outweigh the gains, though the exact wording and attribution of Pyrrhus’ remark vary among ancient sources.

In poetry and prosody, pyrrhic refers to a metrical foot of two short syllables in Greek and Latin verse, and of two unstressed syllables in English. It is one of several basic metrical feet and is usually discussed in contrast to others such as the iamb and trochee. In English verse, pyrrhic sequences are uncommon because of the language’s tendency toward stress-timed rhythm, but the concept remains part of formal metrical analysis.

As an overarching sense, pyrrhic can describe any outcome or rhythm that resembles the two-light-syllable pattern or the costly victory associated with Pyrrhus.