the.com/pleonasm
Saying the same thing twice so it sinks in once, twice.
means Using more words than necessary to express an idea, often by pairing a word with another that already means the same thing — like 'free gift' or 'PIN number.'
from From Greek pleonasmos, 'excess, superabundance,' rooted in pleon, 'more.' It traveled through Late Latin pleonasmus into English in the 16th century as a term for rhetorical redundancy — the same impulse for 'more' that gives us 'plus' and 'plenty,' just turned slightly against itself.
- example
- ATM machine, PIN number, free gift
- greek root
- pleonasmos means excess
- not always bad
- poets use it for emphasis, deliberately
- cousin term
- tautology repeats meaning, not just words