Epistrophy

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A rhetorical device in which the same word or phrase is repeated at the end of consecutive clauses or sentences for emphasis
2. The figure of speech that closes several successive phrases with an identical word, creating a strong rhythmic and persuasive effect
3. A repetition of the final word in a series of clauses, used by speakers and writers to stress a key idea

Etymology: Ancient Greek "epistrophḗ" literally meant "a turning around" or "a turning back," built from "epi-" ("upon, toward") and "strophḗ" ("a turning"), the same root that gives English "strophe," the first section of a Greek choral ode, sung while the chorus turned on the stage. Greek rhetoricians applied the idea to speech: a phrase is turned back on itself, so the same ending keeps coming round. The word passed into Latin as "epistrophē" and then into English, where it appears alongside the spelling "epistrophe." The ending "-y" in "epistrophy" is a variant spelling rather than a different word, and both forms name the same device, sometimes also called "epiphora," a term from the same Greek turning-root.

Synonyms: epiphora