euphemism
pronunciation
How to pronounce euphemism in British English:
UK [ˈju:fəmɪzəm]
How to pronounce euphemism in American English:
US [ˈjufəˌmɪzəm]
-
- Noun:
- an inoffensive expression that is substituted for one that is considered offensive
Word Origin
- euphemism
- euphemism: [17] Etymologically, euphemism means ‘speaking with good words’. Greek euphēmismós, a compound formed ultimately from the prefix eu- ‘good, well’ and phémē ‘speech, saying’ (a relative of English fable, fame, and fate), originally denoted the avoidance of words of ill omen at religious ceremonies, but it was subsequently taken up by grammarians to signify the substitution of a less for a more offensive word. Its opposite, dysphemism ‘use of a more offensive word’, is a modern coinage, formed in the late 19th century using the Greek prefix dus- ‘bad, difficult’.=> fable, fame, fate
- euphemism (n.)
- 1650s, from Greek euphemismos "use of a favorable word in place of an inauspicious one," from euphemizein "speak with fair words, use words of good omen," from eu- "good, well" (see eu-) + pheme "speech, voice, utterance, a speaking," from phanai "speak" (see fame (n.)). In ancient Greece, the superstitious avoidance of words of ill-omen during religious ceremonies, or substitutions such as Eumenides "the Gracious Ones" for the Furies (see also Euxine). In English, a rhetorical term at first; broader sense of "choosing a less distasteful word or phrase than the one meant" is first attested 1793. Related: Euphemistic; euphemistically.
Example
- 1. The inflated style itself is a kind of euphemism .
- 2. Sex outstrips even excretion as a source of euphemism .
- 3. A culture without euphemism would be more honest , but rougher .
- 4. A euphemism is a kind of lie , and the lies peoples and countries tell themselves are revealing .
- 5. Here 's a new year 's resolution : scrub your conversation of euphemism for a day . The results will startle you .