Interjection
/ˌɪn.təˈdʒek.ʃən/noun
A word or phrase thrown into speech to express emotion or reaction.
Did you know?The word comes from Latin *intericere*, “to throw between,” and in older rhetoric an interjection was treated like a sudden verbal intrusion—almost a linguistic interruption of the mind’s flow.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*yeh₃-
“to throw, cast”
Latin
Latin
iacere
“to throw, hurl”
Latin
Latin
intericere
“to throw between; insert”
Late Latin
Latin
interiectio
“an insertion; a grammatical exclamation”
Middle English
English
interjection
“a word or phrase inserted into speech”
Modern English
English
interjection
“a word or phrase expressing sudden emotion”