mesodiplosis

Etymology

Gr. mesos "middle" and diplosis "a doubling"

Synonyms, partial synonyms, and alternate spellings

mesophonia, middle repetition

Definition

The occurrence of at least one of the same lexemes in the middle of different phrases or clauses.

One octopi is an octopus and two octopuses are an octopi! (Galen Harris, age 4, personal communication)

Harris, Galen, and Randy Harris. 2001. “Personal Communication,” 2001.