A rhythmic, repetitive, or monotonous pattern of sound or speaking, like a chant or a voice that rises and falls in a predictable way.
From 'sing' + 'song,' a reduplication formed in the 1600s to describe speech or music that has a mechanical, rhythmic quality—the doubling itself mimics the repetitive pattern being described.
Reduplicated words like 'singsong' sound playful but were actually how people mocked or disparaged certain speech patterns—calling someone's voice 'singsong' was often a subtle way of dismissing their emotional expression as artificial.
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