the.com/alliteration
Sound's sneakiest trick, repeating first letters until your brain hums along helplessly.
means The repetition of the same initial consonant sound across nearby words, as in 'silently slithering serpents.'
from From Latin 'ad-' (toward) plus 'littera' (letter) — literally a 'lettering toward' or 'putting letters next to each other.' The word was coined in the 16th century by the Italian humanist scholar Giovanni Pontano, who minted the Latin 'alliteratio' to name the trick the Romans loved but never bothered to label. It traveled into English a bit later, carrying that same 'littera' you'll find lurking in 'literal' and 'literature' — fitting kin for a word about letters playing repeats.
- old english bones
- Beowulf ran on alliteration, not rhyme
- brand brain
- Coca-Cola, PayPal, Dunkin' Donuts stick because they stutter pleasantly
- tongue twisters
- Peter Piper is alliteration weaponized against your mouth
- memory glue
- Repeated sounds measurably boost recall and recognition
coca-cola — brand name using alliteration with 'c' sounds, one of the world's most recognizable products since 1886