|Definition - A line of verse consisting of five consecutive iambs (i.e. an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable).|
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of may.
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
(Shakespeare, Sonnet XVIII)
(1) The word pentameter derives via Latin from the Greek pentametros, having five measures (from the Greek pente, five + metron, meter).
(2) The word iambic derives via Latin from the Greek iambos, a metrical foot consisting of an unaccented syllable followed by an accented syllable.