Tmesis

Pronunciation ,

• Canada: IPA: /təˈmiːsɪs/, /ˈmiːsɪs/
• Rhymes: -iːsɪs

Origin

Coined 1586, from Late Latin tmēsis, from Ancient Greek τμῆσις (tmēsis, "a cutting"), from τέμνω (temnō, "I cut").

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

Full definition of tmesis

Noun

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

Related terms

• axonotmesis
• neurotmesis

Synonyms

• tumbarumba

Anagrams

• i-stems, misset, smites