What is a litote? Where did litotes originate?

1 Answer
Oct 24, 2016

A litote is a way of stating something by using understatement / double negatives; ex: He was not unkind. (Meaning: He was kind.)

Explanation:

As for originated, I'm not sure what you mean by that, but I know they're used very heavily in Beowulf, which is possibly the oldest example of European / Western literature.