Words & WritingGreek → English
Hendiadys
/hɛnˈdaɪədɪs/noun
Expressing a single idea with two nouns joined by "and" instead of a noun and its modifier.
The Greek roots
ἕν
hén
one
διά
diá
through, by means of
δυοῖν
dyoîn
two
Literally: “one through two”
The story of the word
The term is a Latin grammarian's compression of the Greek phrase ἓν διὰ δυοῖν, one by means of two. Say nice and warm rather than nicely warm, or sound and fury rather than furious sound, and you have used it. Shakespeare reaches for the figure constantly in Hamlet, which scholars have counted at over sixty instances.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
- First recorded
- 16th century
Same family
henotheismdyaddiameter
In a sentence
"Law and order" is hendiadys pretending to be two separate things.