chiasmus
noun /kaɪˈæzməs/
/kaɪˈæzməs/
[uncountable, countable] (plural chiasmi
(specialist) /kaɪˈæzmi/
/kaɪˈæzmi/
)- a technique used in writing or in speeches, in which words, ideas, etc. are repeated in the opposite orderTopics Languagec2Word Originmid 17th cent. (in the sense ‘crosswise arrangement’): modern Latin, from Greek khiasmos, from khiazein ‘mark with the letter chi’, from khi ‘chi’, the twenty-second letter of the Greek alphabet.