Follow the leader.

al-Salāmu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullāh,

There is a phenomenon in Arabic known as itbaa' (lit. 'following'); it is when a word is placed after another word that sounds like it for the sake of emphasis. Some linguists also said that a condition of the second word is that it should not mean anything in itself.

An example is to say about a man that he is, "waseem qaseem"; waseem means handsome, while qaseem does not mean anything here, but has just been used to emphasise the handsomeness. Similarly, "hasan basan."

Another example is 'atshaan natshaan for a person who is extremely thirsty.

Also khafeef dhafeef to describe someone who is light and swift in movement.

It is interesting to note also that the Prophet (sallaa Allaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) used this construction in a hadith when he asked 'Asma bint 'Umays why she was preparing al-shabram (a type of small grain that is used to help bowel movements). He then commented that it was 'haarrun yaarrun' (in some narrations jaarr), to mean it had a strong laxative effect.

I believe the closest thing in the English language would be the 'schm-' prefix that is added on to words, such as the saying 'luck schmuck.' However, a major difference is that the added prefix in the Arabic words is not constant for every word, and one needs to delve deep into the language to know which word accompanies another. Some linguists even pointed out that the choice of prefixed letter is not random, but rather is adds a new dimension to the emphasised meaning.