hypallage

UK: /haɪˈpæləˌdʒiː/ US: (hi pal′ə jē, hī-)

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

hy•pal•la•ge  (hi pal′ə jē, hī-), n. [Rhet.]

1. Rhetoric the reversal of the expected syntactic relation between two words, as in "her beauty's face'' for "her face's beauty.''

• Greek hypallagé̄ interchange, equivalent. to hyp- hyp- + allagé̄ change (all- all- + ag- (stem of ágein to lead; see -agogue) + -ē noun, nominal suffix)
• Latin
• 1580–90

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

hypallage / haɪˈpæləˌdʒiː/ noun

1. a figure of speech in which the natural relations of two words in a statement are interchanged, as in the fire spread the wind

Etymology: 16th Century: via Late Latin from Greek hupallagē interchange, from hypo- + allassein to exchange