zeugma

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ζεῦγμα (zeûgma, “yoking; a bond, a band”), from ζεύγνυμι (zeúgnumi, “to yoke; to join”), from ζεῦγος (zeûgos, “a yoke”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈzjuːɡ.mə/, /ˈzuːɡ.mə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Examples (1)
“We ate coffee and cake” for “We drank coffee and ate cake” "Here Thou, great Anna! whom three Realms obey, / Dost sometimes Counsel take — and sometimes Tea." — Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock

zeugma (countable and uncountable, plural zeugmata or zeugmas)

1. (rhetoric) The act of using a word, particularly an adjective or verb, to apply to more than one noun when its sense is appropriate to only one.
2. (rhetoric) Syllepsis.
   • July 1963, Fred Sommers, “Types and Ontology”, in The Philosophical Review‎^[1], volume LXXII, Bobbs-Merrill Reprint Series in Philosophy, page 343:

     The existence of zeugmas suggests the rule of transitivity. Zeugmas appear incorrect because they embody an allegedly univocal use of a term in a way which violated^[sic] the rule of transitivity.

   • 2008, Amanda Holton, The Sources of Chaucer's Poetics‎^[2], page 104:

     Thus I would describe 'He took his leave and the wrong umbrella' as zeugma, but not 'He took his hat and umbrella'. Zeugma is an important element in Chaucer's poetic technique, not because he uses it, but because he so regularly turns it down.

Some writers distinguish between zeugma and syllepsis, while others do not.

• brachylogy

• syllepsis

• diazeugma
• hypozeugma
• mesozeugma
• prozeugma
• protozeugma

• zeugma on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• Silva Rhetoricae

zeugma m (uncountable)

1. zeugma

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ζεῦγμα (zeûgma, “bond; yoking”).

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈzɛwɡ.mə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈzewɡ.ma]

zeugma m (plural zeugmes)

1. zeugma

• IPA^(key): [ˈzɛu̯ɡma]
• Hyphenation: zeug‧ma

zeugma n

1. zeugma

• “zeugma”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “zeugma”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “zeugma”, in Akademický slovník cizích slov at prirucka.ujc.cas.cz [Academic dictionary of foreign words] (in Czech), 1995

From Ancient Greek ζεῦγμα (zeûgma, “bond, yoking”).

• IPA^(key): [ˈsœwɡma], [ˈsʌjɡma]

zeugma n (singular definite zeugmaet, not used in plural form)

1. (rhetoric) zeugma

• “zeugma” in Den Danske Ordbog

Ultimately from Ancient Greek ζεῦγμα (zeûgma). This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

• IPA^(key): /ˈzœy̯ɣ.maː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: zeug‧ma

zeugma n (plural zeugmata or zeugma's, diminutive zeugmaatje n)

1. zeugma

• IPA^(key): /zøɡ.ma/

• Audio:

  (file)

zeugma m (plural zeugmas)

1. zeugma

• “zeugma”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Learned borrowing from Latin zeugma, from Ancient Greek ζεῦγμα (zeûgma, “bond; yoking”).

zéugma

1. (rhetoric) zeugma

• “zeugma” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

From Late Latin zeugma, from Ancient Greek ζεῦγμα (zeûgma, “bond; yoking”).

• IPA^(key): ^*/ˈd͡zɛwɡ.ma/
• Rhymes: -ɛwɡma
• Hyphenation: zèug‧ma

zeugma m (plural zeugmi)

1. (rhetoric) zeugma

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ζεῦγμα (zeûgma, “bond; yoking”).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈzɛu̯ɡ.ma]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈd̪͡z̪ɛu̯ɡ.ma]

zeugma n (genitive zeugmatis); third declension

1. (Late Latin) zeugma

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

• “zeugma”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• zeugma in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “zeugma”, in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia‎^[3]
• “zeugma”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “zeugma”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly
• “zeugma”, in Richard Stillwell et al., editor (1976), The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press

Learned borrowing from Latin zeugma.

• IPA^(key): /ˈzɛwɡ.ma/
• Rhymes: -ɛwɡma
• Syllabification: zeug‧ma
• Homophone: Zeugma

zeugma f

1. (rhetoric) zeugma (act of using a word, particularly an adjective or verb, to apply to more than one noun when its sense is appropriate to only one)

• zeugma in Polish dictionaries at PWN

From Latin zeugma, from Ancient Greek ζεῦγμα (zeûgma, “bond, yoking”).

• Hyphenation: zeug‧ma

zeugma m (plural zeugmas)

1. (rhetoric) zeugma

• zeugmático

• IPA^(key): /zeǔɡma/
• Hyphenation: ze‧ug‧ma

zeùgma f (Cyrillic spelling зеу̀гма)

1. zeugma

• ceugma (rare)

From Latin zeugma, from Ancient Greek ζεῦγμα (zeûgma, “bond, yoking”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈθeuɡma/ [ˈθeu̯ɣ̞.ma] (Spain)
• IPA^(key): /ˈseuɡma/ [ˈseu̯ɣ̞.ma] (Latin America, Philippines)
• IPA^(key): /ˈtseuɡma/ [ˈt̪seu̯ɣ̞.ma]
• Rhymes: -euɡma

zeugma m (plural zeugmas)

1. (rhetoric) zeugma

• “zeugma”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024