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 (countable and uncountable, plural polyptota or polyptotons)

Examples (rhetoric)
William Shakespeare, Richard II (c. 1595) With eager feeding food doth choke the feeder.

(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.
- [1835, L[arret] Langley, A Manual of the Figures of Rhetoric, […], Doncaster: Printed by C. White, Baxter-Gate, OCLC 1062248511, page 84:
  A Polyptoton still the same word places,
  If sense require it, in two different cases.]
Hypernym: ploce

Translations

stylistic scheme in which words from the same root are used together, or a word is repeated in a different inflection or case