The English Oracle

Source of "-bie" in "freebie"

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Chapters
00:00 Source Of &Quot;-Bie&Quot; In &Quot;Freebie&Quot;
00:15 Accepted Answer Score 13
00:47 Thank you

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ACCEPTED ANSWER

Score 13


The slang word freebie is an example of a rhyming reduplication, which is the term for a word that repeats (possibly with modification) a part of the word stem at another place in the word. English rhyming reduplication often places the reduplicated part at the end of the word. That part does not generally have any real meaning. Other examples of rhyming reduplication include:

  • okey-dokey
  • helter-skelter
  • wingding