This is the Latin form that comes from ancient Greek merismos and the verb form, merisein, "to divide" from meros, "part" and is defined as a type of synecdoche [a figure of speech] in which a totality is expressed by two contrasting parts; such as, "high and low, rich and poor, good and bad, old and young, thick and thin, near and far".

A synecdoche [si NEK duh kee] (Greek > Latin) is defined as, "a figure of speech used in rhetoric in which a part is used for a whole or vice versa"; literally, "a receiving together or jointly". Examples include, "bread for food, the army for a soldier, copper for a penny, forty hired hands instead of forty paid workmen", and "the white cliffs of Dover for England". In addition, the whole may stand for the part; as with, "The fleet hit town" for "The sailors of the fleet hit town".

Another form is merismatic, meaning capable of active division (of cells).