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In terms of rhetoric devices, what's it called when the prefixes of consecutive words are the same? Specifically, I am looking at this quote by Winston Churchill made in his speech - Give Us the Tools:

we shall outwit, out-manoeuvre, outfight and outlast ...

The closest word I could think of to describe this is "diacope", however, I am under the impression that it refers exclusively to the repetition of a word or phrase.

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  • is there a reason why you unaccepted the answer?
    – user66974
    Commented Apr 27, 2016 at 13:41
  • @Josh61 I added an explanation below
    – Pixelchai
    Commented Apr 28, 2016 at 16:01

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Polyptoton :

  • Repetition of words of the same root with different endings.

(literarydevices.net)

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  • Have a brand-new, shiny upvote, fresh from the oven.
    – John Clifford
    Commented Apr 5, 2016 at 19:17
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    But a prefix is not a root. Polyptoton, originally the use of the same noun in multiple (Greek or Latin) cases in short succession, is in English better exemplified by Matt. 7.1-2 (KJV)--"Judge not that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge ye shall be judged"--than by OP's Churchill quotation.
    – Brian Donovan
    Commented Apr 5, 2016 at 21:28
  • The OP's words are outwit, out-manoeuvre, outfight and outlast. How can we say that all these are of the same root?
    – mahmud k pukayoor
    Commented Feb 20, 2020 at 13:19
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OED:

assonance, n. 1. Resemblance or correspondence of sound between two words or syllables. 1728 E. Chambers Cyclopaedia. Assonance,..where the Words of a Phrase, or a Verse, have the same Sound or Termination, and yet make no proper Rhyme. 1870 J. R. Lowell “My Study Windows” 327 Homer..seems fond of playing with assonances. 1879 F. W. Farrar “The Life & Work of St. Paul” I. App. i. 623 Incessant assonances and balances of clauses and expressions.

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I researched this a bit more and I came to the conclusion that I guess there isn't a specific name for this sort of technique. At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter if you do not specifically name the technique (you won't get marked down in an essay)

Although a polyptoton is similar to the technique, a polyptoton is more to do with the repetition of words but with a different case, conjugation or form (as Brian Donovan said), such as:

He drinks, he has drunk and now he will drink!

(or something like that - I didn't really know what a polyptoton was before this)

So now I am faced with two courses of action:
1: Use a more generic term when describing the technique - such as "repetition"
2: Talk about another example

I chose the latter, and so this issue is solved, for now.

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