double entendre

Meaning

A phrase that has two meanings, especially where one is innocent and literal, the other risqué, bawdy, or ironic; an innuendo.

Synonyms

bawdry

bawdy

equivocalness

equivocation

pun

wisecrack

witticism

double meaning

with two meanings

Translations

double sens

duplo sentido

doppio senso

doble sentit

doble sentido

Mehrdeutigkeit

albur

fouble sens

Double sens

ambiguïté

meerduidigheid

Duplo sentido

equívoco

équivoque

Pronounced as (IPA)

/dubl ɑ̃tɑ̃ːdɹ/

Etymology

According to Merriam-Webster and OED, from rare and obsolete French double entendre, which literally meant "double meaning" and was used in the senses of "double understanding" or "ambiguity," but acquired its current suggestive twist after being first used in English in 1673 by John Dryden. From French double (“double”) + entendre (“to understand, to mean”). The phrase has not been used in French for centuries and would be ungrammatical in modern French. The closest modern equivalents are double sens, which often has (but not always) the suggestiveness of the English expression, and sous-entendu which implies a subtext.