Intended for healthcare professionals

Fillers When I use a word …

Re: re-

BMJ 2001; 322 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.322.7295.1166/a (Published 12 May 2001) Cite this as: BMJ 2001;322:1166
  1. Jeff Aronson, clinical pharmacologist
  1. Oxford

    I have been asked why I used the word “reduplication” in a piece about dilatation (BMJ 2000;320:625), when “duplication” would have done just as well. Now it is true that the first definition of reduplication in the Oxford English Dictionary is “the action of doubling or folding,” which is just what duplication means. However, “reduplication” has a distinct grammatical meaning, not shared by “duplication”: “repetition of a syllable or letter, especially in the case of verbal forms.” Typically this occurs in the perfect tense of Greek and Latin verbs. For example, the paradigm of the …

    View Full Text

    Log in

    Log in through your institution

    Subscribe

    * For online subscription