tmesis

Etymology

Coined 1586, from Late Latin tmēsis, from Ancient Greek τμῆσις (tmêsis, “a cutting”), from τέμνω (témnō, “I cut”).

Cognates include Bulgarian тмезис (tmezis), Dutch tmesis, Finnish tmeesi, French tmèse, German Tmesis, Greek τμήσις (tmísis), Italian tmesi, Polish tmeza, Portuguese tmese, Russian тме́зис (tmézis), Serbo-Croatian тмеза and tmeza, Spanish tmesis, and many others.

Pronunciation

• (General New Zealand, UK, Ireland, General South African, General Australian, Canada, Received Pronunciation, US): IPA^(key): /t(ə)ˈmiːsɪs/, /ˈmiːsɪs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

  ,

  Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːsɪs

Noun

tmesis (plural tmeses)

1. (prosody) The insertion of one or more words between the components of a compound word.

See also

• infix
• -bloody-
• -fucking-

Further reading

• tmesis on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• MSTies, i-stems, misset, smites, stimes, tsimes

Alternative forms

• thmesis (Medieval Latin)

Etymology

From Ancient Greek τμῆσις (tmêsis, “a cutting”), from τέμνω (témnō, “I cut”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈtmeː.sis/, [ˈtmeː.sɪs]

Noun

tmēsis f (genitive tmēsis); third declension

1. (grammar) The separation of a word, tmesis.

References

• tmesis in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• tmesis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

Noun

tmesis f (plural tmesis)

1. (prosody) tmesis