pun
pronunciation
How to pronounce pun in British English:
UK [pʌn]
How to pronounce pun in American English:
US [pʌn]
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- Noun:
- a humorous play on words
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- Verb:
- make a play on words
Word Origin
- pun
- pun: [17] Snappy monosyllables produced by breaking off a piece of a longer word were all the rage in late 17th- and early 18th-century England (mob is a well-known example), and it is thought that pun may be one of them. It seems to be short for pundigrion, a short-lived fanciful 17th- and 18th-century term for a ‘pun’ or ‘quibble’ which may have been adapted from Italian puntiglio ‘nice point, quibble’ (source of English punctilious).
- pun (n.)
- 1660s (first attested in Dryden), of uncertain origin, perhaps from pundigron, which is perhaps a humorous alteration of Italian puntiglio "equivocation, trivial objection," diminutive of Latin punctum "point." This is pure speculation. The verb also is attested from 1660s. Related: Punned; punning. Pun was prob. one of the clipped words, such as cit, mob, nob, snob, which came into fashionable slang at or after the Restoration. [OED]
Example
- 1. The russian search engine 's name is both an acronym and a pun .
- 2. Sometimes people get jittery ( pun intended ) when it comes to caffeine consumption .
- 3. China is also the only economy of any size that is actually still growing , albeit at a subprime ( no pun intended ) 6-8 per cent .
- 4. For some it is a pun on the end of times , for others on the eponymous and violent video game involving vehicular combat , an appropriate metaphor .