Doesn't "Purple" Rhyme with turtle?

Question

They say nothing rhymes with purple, and i've said turlte does, and they just laugh and scoff... but think about it - between the words, there are only 2 letters that are different - "PurPle and TurTle". thats pretty similar. and of course, if you say them quickly they sound very similar... So do these words rhyme or not?

Answer 1

Odd that all these folks can tell you 'yes, it rhymes" or "no, it doesn't rhyme", but not a single one provides you with a clear definition of "rhyme", or any link to back up what they say.

The answer to your question can, in fact, be either yes or no, depending on which SENSE Of "rhyme" you use.

Many are using the strictest/narrowest sense of rhyme, sometimes called "perfect rhyme", which is defined as:

"Rhyme in which the final accented vowel and all succeeding consonants or syllables are IDENTICAL, while the preceding consonants are different, for example, great, late; rider, beside her; dutiful, unbeautiful. Also called full rhyme, true rhyme."
http://www.bartleby.com/61/83/P0188300.html

By this definition, "turtle" does NOT rhyme with "purple". (In fact, only one or two rare dialectal words will work in that case.)

But that is not the only type or rhyme or way to use the word. "In the general sense, 'rhyme' can refer to various kinds of phonetic similarity between words."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhymes#Types_of_rhyme

Now some of these sorts of rhyme are rather loose... so they are probably not what YOU have in mind either. What you are likely after is a "NEAR rhyme" (or "slant rhyme") that is not exact but is close enough to work in poetry that depends on END RHYME (at the end of lines). In fact, English poetry FREQUENTLY uses this sort of rhyme -- and, if you don't stretch things too far, it works very well.

(Incidentally, most of these are NOT what we mean be "artistic license" -- read the wikipedia article on that subject and you'll see that's not what is in view.)

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The sort of "near rhyme" represented by purple // turtle is characterized by 'full assonance' (that is, ALL the vowel-sounds match from the accented syllable on) and 'final consonance' (that is, the last consonant sound matches). These are typically the most effective near rhymes... because they are closest to a perfect match without getting one. Amongst near rhymes, we can also make some distinctions, esp., by HOW close the sounds that do NOT match are to each other.

Note that, if you can use "turtle" for a rhyme, there are many OTHER words that will also work, some of them even BETTER than turtle (because they use a sound CLOSER to the 'p' of purPle than the 't' of turTle is).

Consider the following list, beginning with the closest matches, moving out to more distant ones:

herbal, verbal, gerbil
servile

hurtful
mirthful
turtle, fertile, hurtle, myrtle
girdle, hurdle, curdle

hournal, kernel, vernal, eternal, external, internal, nocturnal, diurnal, fraternal, paternal, supernal
thermal, (epi)dermal

circle
gurgle (and 'burgle')
Virgil

commercial, controversial, inertial
reversal, rehearsal, universal, dispersal, tercel

mural, rural


Another sort of near rhyme would match all the sounds EXCEPT the last one. This often does not work as well, though in this case you might find that "sherpa", which simply drops the final sound, works fine.

Answer 2

Words That Rhyme With Turtle

Answer 3

They do not. In order to rhyme, a word must have similar-sounding ENDING syllables, a requirement that 'turtle' does not fulfill. 'Turple' would rhyme, or 'merple', or any other word ending in -urple. (The sound, not the spelling.) There are truly no words that rhyme with purple. (It has been contended that 'orange', the other purported no-rhyme word, rhymes with 'lozenge'. I'm withholding judgment on that one for the moment!)

Sorry!

Answer 4

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Doesn't "Purple" Rhyme with turtle?
They say nothing rhymes with purple, and i've said turlte does, and they just laugh and scoff... but think about it - between the words, there are only 2 letters that are different - "PurPle and TurTle". thats pretty similar. and of course, if you say them quickly they sound very...

Answer 5

I would definitely agree...if you enunciate the second "t" in turtle and don't slur over it.

I love the color purple
and I have a tiny turtle

Sounds like it rhymes to me!

Answer 6

The 2 don't rhyme but remember that poets have a 'poetic licence' [see link as well as extract from link below]. Therefore, you would be quite in your right to write your poem as YOU see fit. The thing is if you're writing this poem for it to be graded, a Teacher may be looking for words to rhyme in the strictest sense. Then again, you can add an asterisk to the word turtle* and explain the importance of poetic licence in a footnote to the poem, so the Teacher sees you are thinking :).


"poetic license (licentia poetica), refers to the ability of a poet to ignore some of the minor requirements of grammar for poetic effect. For example, Mark Antony's "Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears" from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar would technically require the word "and" before "countrymen", but this is omitted to preserve the rhythm of iambic pentameter. Conversely, on the next line, the end of "I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him" has an extra syllable because omitting the word "him" would make the sentence unclear, but adding a syllable at the end would not disrupt the meter. Both of these are examples of poetic license.

In summary, artistic license is:

Entirely at the artist's discretion
Intended to be tolerated by the viewer (cf. "willing suspension of disbelief")
Neither "good" nor "bad"
Useful for filling in gaps, whether they be factual, compositional, historical or otherwise
Used consciously or unconsciously, intentionally or unintentionally or in tandem "

Answer 7

Technically, it is not a full rhyme. It is a slant rhyme, which means it sounds very similar, but it not an actual rhyme.

Answer 8

for something to rhyme properly, i believe they need to have the same amount of syllables, and the last syllable needs to be identical. Turple would count, but turtle doesnt. sorry.

Answer 9

similar, but not quite...you'd get away with it in a song but not a rhyming poem.

Answer 10

Would these two words be perfectly acceptable as a ryhme in a rap song?