polyptoton

English

WOTD – 8 May 2009

Etymology

Via Latin, from Ancient Greek πολύπτωτον (polúptōton), neuter of πολύπτωτος (polúptōtos, “having many cases”), from πολύς (polús, “many”) + πίπτω (píptō, “I fall”).

Pronunciation

  • (US) IPA(key): /ˌpɑ.ləpˈtoʊ.tɑn/
  • Audio (US)(file)

Noun

polyptoton (plural polyptota or polyptotons)

  1. (rhetoric) A stylistic scheme in which words from the same root are used together, or a word is repeated in a different inflection or case.

Usage notes

An example of polyptoton appears in the following quote with variation on the word feed:

Hypernyms

Translations

See also

  • Category:English cognate expressions
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