RRhetoric
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Sound & Diction

Tmesis

TMEE-sis / təˈmiːsɪs

Splitting a word or set phrase and wedging another word inside: abso-bloody-lutely. The interruption makes the emphasis feel involuntary, as if the feeling burst the word open.

"un-bloody-believable"

Don't confuse it with Parenthesis. Infixation is the linguist's term for the same surgery; parenthesis interrupts a sentence, tmesis interrupts a single word.

Drill its family — Sound & Diction

In the Reader — 2 excerpts

In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.
— Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland · open the passage →
Lo. Lee. Ta.
— Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita · open the passage →

The rest of the family

Alliteration Assonance Onomatopoeia Neologism Archaism Solecism Epithet