Reduplicatives never travel alone. In fact, they always come in pairs and sometimes sound rather silly. These are the words formed through reduplication, when you repeat a word to form a new one, or slightly change the vowel or consonant. These are inventive and musical words and there are hundreds of them in English.
Also called ‘echo words’, there are three basic types of reduplicatives. Some repeat the word exactly, some of them use rhyme for formation while the others use vowel or consonant shift to come up with the other half of the pair. Most of them are two syllable words (four, if you count both halves of the pair), though there are some with three syllables.
This type of word formation seems to come naturally to us. Shakespeare was responsible for hurly-burly , which is still in use, as well as other reduplicatives that are rarely seen outside the plays. Recent additions to the genre include the chick-flick, a film geared towards women. Here are some common reduplicatives.
Repeating the same word:
ack-ack
aye-aye
bang-bang
beriberi
bonbon
boo-boo
bye-bye
cha-cha
choo-choo
chop chop
froufrou
goody goody
ha-ha
hush hush
muumuu
night-night
no-no
papa
pawpaw
Rhyming:
airy-fairy
argy-bargy
artsy-fartsy
boo hoo
boogie-woogie
bow-wow
easy-peasy
fuddy-duddy
hanky-panky
heebie-jeebies
helter-skelter
higgledy-piggledy
hocus-pocus
hodge-podge
hoity-toity
itsy-bitsy
jeepers creepers
mumbo-jumbo
namby-pamby
nitty gritty
okey-dokey
super-duper
willy-nilly
Vowel changes:
chit-chat
clip clop
criss-cross
dilly-dally
ding-dong
flim-flam
flip-flop
hip-hop
knick-knack
mish-mash
ping pong
pitter-patter
riff-raff
riprap
see-saw
shilly-shally
tick tock
tittle-tattle
zigzag
Feel free to add your own in the comments.
Regarding “reduplicatives”:
How about “Tuk-Tuk” and “Tee-Hee” ?
Would you include definitions with each of the reduplicatives? I’m familiar with several of them, but most I either don’t know them at all, or only have a quasi-understanding of them.
How about hugger mugger?
Does something like bric-a-brac come under this? I also wonder about slight variants, to wit, muckety muck and yakety yak.
@ grumpyoneuk: Great additions, thanks.
@ Jaguar: that would be a whole new post; I’ll get to work on it.
@ Alice: Yes, hugger mugger fits the bill, but I’m not sure about the others – there must be a name for those, too. Time to play word detective 🙂
I learned something new today, thanks to this site. Very nice. Would “ta-da” be included? 🙂
Yes, Roshawn, that’s another good example.
Thanks Sharon!
Where do these words fit ? lub-dub,mama
Lub dub would fit in with the rhyming reduplicatives, while mama would be a straight copy, as would papa, dada and so on, OldSailor.
just a teenie weenie feel about brou-ha-ha.
no no, just a thought. i will neither create a hubbub nor a hurly-
burly.
ha.
Here’s some. Leaving dashes out. Going golfing after this. No, not Put Put.
whoopsy doopsy
blue flu
do do
poo poo
yellow mellow
later gator
chill Bill (guess who)
bees knees (old)
wham bam
Jeez Louise
fat cat
fire wire (technical)
hip hop
Lordy Lordy
shock jock
loose goose
loosey goosey
pop pop (Gramps)
flower power
ga ga (to go ga ga over…..)
goin’ golfin’ -now!
What great additions! It goes to show how much we like and use reduplicatives.
Rhyme-schmyme, as long as it sounds the same 😉
Great stuff, Sharon!
And then there are all the words we add “shm” or “schm” onto in order to mock them, “fancy schmancy,” for example. Or my blog, “Speak Schmeak.” 😉
is cuck – koo one?
choowy-louie
addint to easy peasy lemon – squeezy lol 😉
adding*
shim-sham
shoo-you
I don’t know if these will be included, but they’re so stupid, lol
Juicy – lucy
tutti-fruiti
wibble wobble
ting-a-ling ?
Sorry if it looks like I’m spamming – I’m not, I just keep on thinking of some every now n then that I want to add.
is there a particular phonological rule or pattern for reduplication?