What does pleon mean?
A pleon is an unnecessarily redundant word or expression: it repeats, restates, or elaborates something the sentence has already communicated. Such wording may arise from deliberate emphasis, faulty editing, or a speaker’s effort to make a point sound forceful, but it generally adds length rather than meaning. A familiar example is “repeat after me,” where “repeat” and “after me” express the same instruction. Pleon also has a specialized zoological use for the abdomen or posterior body division of an arthropod, especially a crustacean. Although the rhetorical sense is less frequent in everyday language than words such as “redundancy” and “tautology,” pleon is useful when discussing rhetoric, editing, and the relationship between brevity and clarity. It identifies a specific kind of unnecessary repetition rather than treating all repetition as equally ineffective.
nounIn rhetoric and language use, a word or expression that repeats or adds something already expressed, making the statement unnecessarily redundant. In zoology, the term is also used for the abdomen or posterior body division of an arthropod, especially a crustacean.
- Rhetoric and language use: a word, phrase, or construction that is unnecessary because it repeats information already conveyed.
- Zoology: the abdomen or posterior body division of an arthropod, especially a crustacean.
"“Please contact me for further information” is a pleon because the final phrase merely repeats what the sentence has already communicated."
"The sentence suffered from a grammatical pleon when it repeated “absolutely” without adding meaning."
"The lobster’s pleon includes the abdominal segments bearing its swimming appendages."
The plural is used when referring to several redundant words or expressions; it is uncommon because the word is itself specialized.
"The editor identified two pleons in the paragraph."
From a Greek word meaning “more,” a pleon is the gift that keeps on giving after the message has already landed.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does pleon come from?
The word comes through Latin from Greek pleōn, meaning “more” or “fuller,” with an underlying sense of excess. In rhetoric, it was applied to an expression that contains more language than its meaning requires. The same ancient root is cognate with English words such as “plenary,” “plenteous,” and “plenty,” all of which reflect the related idea of fullness or abundance.
Related word forms
How pleon is actually used
The rhetorical sense is specialized and literary or academic; in ordinary discussion, “redundancy” and “tautology” are more usual. The zoological sense is uncommon in general writing.