Adynaton

Adynaton (/ˌædɪˈnɑːtɒn, -tən/;[1] plural adynata) is a figure of speech in the form of hyperbole taken to such extreme lengths as to insinuate a complete impossibility:[2]

I will sooner have a beard grow in the palm of my hand than he shall get one on his cheek.[3]

The word derives from the Greek ἀδύνατον (adunaton), neuter of ἀδύνατος (adunatos), "unable, impossible" (a-, "without" + dynasthai, "to be possible or powerful").[4]

  1. ^ "adynaton". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 2020-11-26.
  2. ^ Stephen Cushman; Clare Cavanagh; Jahan Ramazani; Paul Rouzer (26 August 2012). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics: Fourth Edition. Princeton University Press. p. 9. ISBN 978-1-4008-4142-4. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  3. ^ Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 2
  4. ^ ἀδύνατος, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus