Some words in English simply repeat themselves: the second part is identical with the first, pooh-pooh, or repeats the first part with a change of vowel, riff-raff, or of consonant, teeny-weeny. These are called reduplicative words. Here are some everyday English examples.
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ORDINARY EXAMPLES
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Repeating without change
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bye-bye
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hush-hush
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haha
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blah blah
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girly girly
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gaga
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Repeating with change of vowel
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flip-flop
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mish-mash
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nick-nack
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pitter-patter
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sing-song
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see-saw
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ping-pong
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Repeating with change of consonant
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hurdy-gurdy
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mumbo-jumbo
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walky-talky
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hanky-panky
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hotchpotch
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higgledy-piggledy
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hocus-pocus
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criss-cross
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argy-bargy
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Babytalk |
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tum-tum |
bow-wow |
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night-night |
gee-gee |
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boo-hoo |
wee-wee |
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neigh-neigh |
moo-moo |
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baabaa |
choo-choo |
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Characters in the
Night Garden (children’s TV show) |
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Igglepiggle |
The Haa Hoos |
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Makka Pakka |
Ninky Nonk |
Many attractive reduplicative words have died out or survive only in dialects. Here is a selection if you want to bring them back to life.
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Obscure
words |
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geepie-gawpie |
a shadow picture
(Orkney) |
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kitch-witch |
a woman dressed
in a frightening way (East Anglia) (the name of a shop in
Colchester in the 2000s)
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mal-scral |
a caterpillar
(Devon) |
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holums-jolums |
all at once
(Warwick) |
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whisky-frisky |
drunk on whisky
(American) |
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borus-snorus |
happy go lucky
(Dorset) |
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joukerie-cookerie |
trickery
(Scottish) |
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hangy-bangy |
a good-for-nothing (Northumberland) |
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hitherum-ditherum |
a drying wind
(Scottish) |
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rumpum-scrumpum |
an instrument
like a banjo (Wiltshire) |