tmesis tmesis
 tmee'-sis Gk. "a cutting"
Also sp. timesis
dissectio

Interjecting a word or phrase between parts of a compound word or between syllables of a word.
 
Examples
  In the following sentence the word "appear" occurs between the two words that make up the compound "hereafter."
This is the place where Christ will come, as will here appear after.

In the following sentence, "whatsoever" has been interrupted with "man":
He shall be punished, what man soever offendeth.

In the following passage, "heinous" interrupts "howe'er":
If on the first, how heinous e'er it be,
To win thy after-love I pardon thee.
—Shakespeare, Richard II 5.3.34-35

Related Figures
 

Related Topics of Invention
 

 
  Sources: Bede 614; Sherry (1550) 31 ("tmesis," "dissectio"); Peacham (1577) F4v; Day 1599 83 ("tmesis," "diacope")


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Gideon O. Burton, Brigham Young University
Please cite "Silva Rhetoricae" (rhetoric.byu.edu)

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