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Wednesday 27 April 2011

Nuts and Bolts: tmesis.

Well, how fan-flipping-tastic is this? I mean, tmesis. For one thing it begins TM (and there are only three of those in the English language.)*

Not only that, but you're supposed to pronounce both the t and the m when you say it: tmeessis.

Cool, eh?

Abso-bogging-lutely!

And that's just what tmesis is: it's cutting a word in two and sticking another one in the middle.

Good, or what?

Defi-naffing-nately!

Thing To Do Today: tmesis. This word comes from the Greek word temnein, to cut.

*The other two are tmema, which means a section, and tmetic which means cutting or loosening.

2 comments:

  1. Ooh! Such excitement! I never knew this word and yes, all three tm words are wonderful, all three of them and I will try and use one as soon as I can. Grateful to the Word Den for increasing my Word Power.

    ReplyDelete
  2. So Manchester grotting United isn't tmesis but Mangrottingchester Uboggingnited is?

    ReplyDelete

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