What does alliteration mean? Definitions and real-world examples in ads, songs and poetry.

Clare Mulroy, USA TODAY
Updated ·3 min read

Even if you're years out of school and not actively taking an English class, it's hard not to note how we use literary and sound devices in music, art, advertising and writing.

You've got "Snap, Crackle and Pop," the cartoon mascots of Rice Krispies, utilizing onomatopoeia. The 2011 movie "Friends With Benefits," employs a euphemism to humorously depict a relationship. The popular saying "cool as a cucumber" is a real-world example of a simile.

Want to see how alliteration makes its mark on the world? Read on.

What does alliteration mean?

Alliteration is a sound device that involves the repetition of the same letter or sound, usually at the start of neighboring words. These repeating sounds are typically consonants, and can also be called "head rhymes" or "initial rhymes," according to Merriam-Webster.

Though not as common, alliteration can also be a repetitive stressing of accented consonants, like "appear and report."

Alliteration is all around us – you can find it in poetry, prose, advertising, song titles and lyrics. Alliteration was used as a formal structure in many Indo-European languages, known as alliterative verse.

What is a metaphor?: Check out these examples in songs, literature and more

Alliteration examples

One of the most well-known examples of alliteration is the tongue-twister nursery rhyme, "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peckers." This comes from the 19th century "Peter Piper's Practical Principles of Plain and Perfect Pronunciation," an alliteration-heavy children's book that counts through the alphabet with examples like "Andrew Airpump ask'd his Aunt her ailment" and "Billy Button bought a butter'd biscuit."

"She sells seashells by the seashore," is another example of an alliterative tongue twister that's made its way to the digital advertising space with Squarespace and Zendaya's 2022 Super Bowl commercial.

But alliteration isn't all about tongue twisters – it's often used in marketing or naming to create a catchy, memorable slogan. Take fictional characters, for example, Betty Boop is a well-known one but take a look at the fictional founders of Hogwarts in J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" series:

  • Godric Gryffindor

  • Rowena Ravenclaw

  • Helga Hufflepuff

  • Salazar Slytherin

Here are a few more real-world examples:

  • "Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Polythene Pam" by the Beatles

  • "Bad Blood" by Taylor Swift

  • The alphabetical lyrics in "Alphabet Aerobics" by Blackalicious

  • Lyrics from "That's Life" by Frank Sinatra: "I've been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn and a king"

  • In "Beowulf," the Old English epic poem: “to feast his fill of the flesh of men” and “for fear of a feud were forced to disown him”

  • West Virginia's state slogan: "Wild, Wonderful West Virginia"

  • Common sayings: "pretty as a picture," "dead as a doornail," "good as gold" or "busy as a bee."

  • Popular brand names: Dunkin' Donuts, Best Buy, PayPal, Krispy Kreme, TikTok

  • Celebrity names: Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin, Farrah Fawcett, Danny DeVito, Greta Gerwig, Ginnifer Goodwin, Lindsay Lohan, Kim Kardashian (and all the subsequent Kardashians)

'FS' text meaning: Slang, online retail term or streamer lingo?

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Alliteration definition, examples: What it means and where to find it