Meanings
plural hendiadyses
- rhetoricA figure of speech used for emphasis, where two words joined by and are used to express a single complex idea.
Each illustrates a different facet of verbal hendiadys in English.
2002, Joan L. Bybee, Michael Noonan, Complex Sentences in Grammar and Discourse, page 1521 more example
Some examples of hendiadys comprise two words in the bound state; others, two words in appositional hendiadys. It would seem that certain cases of appositional hendiadys are closely related to wordpairs (see WORD-PAIRS, BREAK-UP), though which way the development proceeded is far from certain.
1984, Wilfred G. E. Watson, Classical Hebrew Poetry, A&C Black, →ISBN, page 327
Origin
- Ancient Greekἕν
- Englishhendiadys
From Medieval Latin, from Ancient Greek ἕν (hén), stem of εἷς (heîs, “one”) + διά (diá, “through”) + δύο (dúo, “two”), “one [idea] through two [words]”.
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan hendíadis
- hendíadisfigure of speech
Czech hendiadys
- hendiadysfigure of speech
Dutch hendiadys
- hendiadysfigure of speech
Esperanto hendiadino
- hendiadinofigure of speech
French hendiadys, hendiadyin
- hendiadysfigure of speech
- hendiadyinfigure of speech
German Hendiadyoin
- Hendiadyoinfigure of speech
Hungarian hendiadisz, hendiadioin
- hendiadiszfigure of speech
- hendiadioinfigure of speech
Irish einniad
- einniadfigure of speech
Italian endiade
- endiadefigure of speech
Japanese 二詞一意
- 二詞一意 (nishiichii)figure of speech
Norwegian hendiadyoin
- hendiadyoinfigure of speech
Polish hendiadys
- hendiadysfigure of speech
Portuguese hendíadis
- hendíadisfigure of speech
Russian гендиа́дис
- гендиа́дис (gendiádis)figure of speech
Spanish hendíadis, endíadis
- hendíadisfigure of speech
- endíadisfigure of speech
Cite this entry
hendiadys. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hendiadys
“hendiadys.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hendiadys. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hendiadys,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hendiadys.
Source: hendiadys on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.