pun

Meaning

Noun

A joke or type of wordplay in which similar definitions or sounds of two words or phrases, or different definitions of the same word, are deliberately confused.

Verb

1. (obsolete, transitive) To beat; strike with force; to ram; to pound, as in a mortar; reduce to powder, to pulverize.
2. (intransitive) To make or tell a pun; to make a play on words.

Synonyms

play on words

wordplay

paronomasia

witticism

quibble

clinch

jest

punning

wisecrack

word play

joke

🤣

equivoque

word game

rhyming game

equivoke

go in for rhetoric

acrostic

juggle with words

analogue

clench

double entendre

parody

quip

quirk

repartee

sarcasm

tongue twister

double meaning

Translations

calembour

Wortspiel

gioco di parole

jeu de mots

trocadilho

juego de palabras

woordspeling

Kalauer

joc de paraules

Witz

🤣

λογοπαίγνιο

calambur

freddura

Pronounced as (IPA)

/pʌn/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: ponnen

Inherited from Old English: punian

In summary

From Middle English ponnen, ponen, punen, from Old English punian, pūnian (“to pound, beat, bray, bruise, crush, grind”), from Proto-Germanic *punōną (“to break to pieces, pulverize”). See pound. As a kind of word play, from the notion of "beating" the words into place.