“拆词镶嵌”，是指在特定的语境中，为了把话说得舒缓些或郑重些，故意把多音节的词或固定短语拆开，插入特定的词语，使之错杂成文的一种修辞方式。被拆开的词语可以是名词、动词、形容词，镶入的可以是数词（如“十拿九稳”）、虚词（如“冤哉枉也”），也可以是两个词语交错镶嵌（如“山重水复”）。

英语中惟一与“拆词镶嵌”有些许联系的辞格是hendiadys(重言法；二词一意），是用and连接两个独立的词，以代替一个独立的词加上其修饰词的惯常组合，以使语言凝练生动，言简意赅，给人以深入一层的意境。如：

He was put to death with the sword and with the steel. （代替 with the steel sword）（参考译文：他被人用钢刀杀死。）

She looked at Mary with eyes and envy. （代替 with envious eyes）（参考译文：她用妒忌的眼睛看着玛丽。）

曹雪芹经常利用拆词镶嵌的手法，将双音节词拆开，然后镶嵌进有关的单音节词，所构成的新词有延音加力的作用，使被镶嵌的词增加音节，以引起读者或听者的注意，收到了良好的修辞效果。

我们已经注意到上述所引例句中hendiadys的修辞意义是很难译出的。汉语的“拆词镶嵌”辞格译成英语，也无疑具备类似的难度。下面，我们主要从遣词造句的角度分析该辞格在原语中的修辞效果能否在译入语中以非修辞的方式得以再现。

1) 鹦哥笑道：“林姑娘正在这里伤心，自己淌眼抹泪的说：‘今儿 才来，就惹出你家哥儿的狂病，倘或摔坏了那玉，岂不是因我之过！’因此便伤心，我好容易劝好了。”（第三回）

杨译：

"Miss Lin has been in tears all this time, she's so upset," said Yingge. "The very day of her arrival, she says, she's made our young master fly into a tantrum. If he'd smashed his jade she would have felt to blame . I've been trying to comfort her."

霍译：

Nightingale proceeded to tell her what was troubling her new mistress.

'Miss Lin is all upset. She has just been crying her eyes out because she says she only just arrived here today, and yet already she has started young hopeful off on one of his turns. She says if that jade had been really smashed, it would have been all her fault. That's what she's so upset about. I've had no end of a job trying to comfort her.'

鹦哥的这段话，说的是黛玉初到贾府时，因宝玉摔玉而第一次落泪伤心。其中“淌眼抹泪”四字，利用拆词镶嵌的手法，具体地形容了黛玉又流眼泪又擦眼泪的伤心形象，强调了她对宝玉的知己之情，饱含体贴与不安，比“又淌眼泪，又抹眼泪”或“一边淌眼泪边抹眼泪” 更富有节奏感，用词更加简洁生动。相比而言，杨译的in tears在表 达力度上远+及霍译的crying her eyes out描绘得更加引人注目，给读者的印象更深更富感染力和表现力。而且，这一表达方式与下文的I've had no end of a job trying to comfort her 遥相呼应，达成了语意上的默契，使译文融会贯通，与原文拆词镶嵌所起到的积极作用是 一脉相承的。