Reduplications

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The process of repeating parts of a word to create new forms or altered meanings
2. A linguistic phenomenon where syllables or sounds are duplicated for emphasis or clarity
3. The morphological process in which elements of a word are doubled, often to convey rhythm or to indicate diminutive forms

Etymology: "Reduplications" is the plural of "reduplication," which is formed from the prefix "re-" and "duplication," the act of making a copy or doubling something. The sense is simple: a reduplication is a doubled or repeated element, such as the repeated syllable in Latin "cucurri" or the echoed sound in many languages' word-building. Because the base is a straightforward English compound of prefix and noun, there is little more to trace. The "re-" in the word does not mean "again" here in the usual sense of doing something once more. Its Latin source, "re-," carried the sense of back or repeated action, and it reached English through Old French, which the Etymology tree records as the route for the prefix. The base "duplication" comes from the same family of Latin words meaning "double" or "twofold," which is also the origin of "duplicate."