RRhetoric
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Sound & Diction

Tmesis

TMEE-sis / təˈmiːsɪs

Inserting a word into another word or fixed phrase: “abso-bloody-lutely.” The interruption emphasizes the inserted expression.

"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

Examples

That was abso-bloody-lutely impossible.
Practice example · written for this exercise

“Bloody” is inserted inside the word “absolutely.”

The rest of the family

Alliteration Assonance Onomatopoeia Neologism Archaism Solecism Epithet