Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index Tmesis (Greek, "a cutting") is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is inserted into another word, often for humorous effect. The insertion may occur between the parts of a compound word, or between other syllable boundaries (dystmesis). Examples: "what-place-soever" "I can't find it any-blooming-where" (see also expletive infixation) "how heinous e'er it be" (Shakespeare's tmesis of "however" in Richard II) "any-old-how" (parallel to "any old thing") This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.