chiasmus

[kahy-az-muhs]

noun

Rhetoric.

plural

chiasmi 

1. a reversal in the order of words in two otherwise parallel phrases, as in “He went to the country, to the town went she.”

chiasmus

/ kaɪˈæzməs, kaɪˈæstɪk /

noun

1. rhetoric reversal of the order of words in the second of two parallel phrases

   he came in triumph and in defeat departs

Other Word Forms

• chiastic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of chiasmus¹

1870–75; < Greek chiasmós, equivalent to chi chi ¹ + -asmos masculine noun suffix, akin to -asma; chiasma

Word History and Origins

Origin of chiasmus¹

C19: from New Latin, from Greek khiasmos crisscross arrangement; see _chiasma