Irreversible Binomials

These phrases are alive and well

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Broadway and Trinity Church by J.W. Hill, 1830 (public domain - NYPL Digital Collection)

There are certain two-word phrases we hear frequently that we’re used to hearing or reading in a certain order. These are called irreversible binomials.

These are phrases in which the words must appear in a particular order.

They become such a part of the vocabulary that it would seem odd to see or hear them in the opposite order. They go together like carrots and peas. Wait — that isn’t right, is it?

The term “irreversible binomial” was introduced by etymologist and philologist Yakov Malkiel in 1954. But the phenomenon had been discussed since at least 1903 under different names: a “terminological imbroglio.”¹

In a previous edition of Off the Clock, I wrote About Ablauts, or the required order of similar sounding words from the same root. Like ping pong or flip flops. That was based on vowel order.

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About Ablauts

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There is so such hard and fast rule with irreversible binomials; we simply say or write them in a particular order because that’s how they’ve become familiar phrases.

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Let’s explore some irreversible binomials and the reasons they exist. Maybe you can suggest more.