01 · Side by side

Side by side

Comparison sheet
AspectClassical tmesisExpletive infixation
OperationSeparatesInserts
Adds materialNoYes
Governed byGrammarStress
LanguageGreek, LatinEnglish
02 · Which one you meant

Which one did you mean?

In shortReaders who land here meaning Tmesis rather than Expletive infixation are usually searching for phrases like “what is tmesis”, “abso-bloody-lutely word”, “how do you pronounce tmesis”.

Tmesis

  • “what is tmesis”
  • “abso-bloody-lutely word”
  • “how do you pronounce tmesis”
  • “expletive infixation”
03 · The mix-up

Where the confusion comes from

The mix-up“The classical and modern versions are the same device.”
What's true

Classical tmesis separates a compound or splits a verb from its prefix — a grammatical feature of Greek and Latin. English expletive infixation inserts a whole extra word inside a single word. The infixation literature analyses these as morphological insertion rather than classical prefix-separation — though reference works usually file both under the one name.

04 · Read either one

Read either one in full