Learn English – “Hot embers” and “cold ice”. Is this a figure of speech

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I've often come across phrases such as "hot embers" and "cold ice" (I'd be hard pressed to cite sources…I don't remember any). I found the adjectives "hot" and "cold" used with "embers" and "ice" respectively redundant, because…well… that (burning) embers are "hot" and that ice is "cold" is painfully obvious.

But since I see such usage fairly often (once again, I can't cite any sources), coupled with the existence of an establish term "paleo-achaeology", my initial belief that these were products of the airheaded-ness that usually grips users of the English language (joke) was reduced to mere suspicion.

Which is why I ask:

Is this a figure of speech? If so what is it called? Moreover, what purpose does it serve? (sarcasm? emphasis?)

Best Answer

No, I don't think they're figures of speech since figures of speech are not meant to be taken literally. I believe these are pleonasms (bold emphasis mine):

Pleonasm (/ˈpliːənæzəm/; from Greek πλεονασμός (pleonasmós), from πλέον (pleon), meaning 'more, too much') is the use of more words or parts of words than are necessary or sufficient for clear expression: examples are black darkness, burning fire. Such redundancy is, by traditional rhetorical criteria, a manifestation of tautology. That being said, people may use a pleonasm for emphasis or because the phrase has already become established in a certain form.
(Wikipedia)

Here are a couple of examples:

2. Semantic Pleonasm

The semantic pleonasm is related more to the style of the language than the grammar such as given below.

“I am eating tuna fish burger.”

Here tuna is itself a name of fish, and there is no need to add word “fish”.
Therefore, the word fish is pleonastic in the sentence.

Examples of Pleonasm from Literature
Example #1

“This was the most unkindest cut of all…..”

(Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare)

In this extract, Shakespeare has deliberately used the term “most unkindest” as pleonastic. He could have used unkindest only; however, most is added in order to emphasize and give an even clearer meaning.
(Literary Devices)

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