JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground
by Emre Erkan
HTML
<ul>
<li class="but"><a href="#">ONE WORD<small>Other words here</small></a></li>
<li class="but"><a href="#">ONE WORD<small>Other words here</small></a></li>
<li class="but"><a href="#">ONE WORD<small>Other words here</small></a></li>
<li class="but"><a href="#">ONE WORD<small>Other words here</small></a></li>
</ul>
JavaScript
$('.but a').each(function() {
var $a = $(this);
var $small = $a.find('small');
var smallText = $small.html();
$small.remove();
var arr = $a.html().split(' ');
arr[1] = ['<span>', arr[1], '</span>'].join('');
$a.html(arr.join(' ')).append(['<small>', smallText, '</small>'].join(''));
});