Link Centre Dictionary

paronomasia

pa·ro·no·masia

UK/pæɹənɵˈmeɪzɪə/ US/pæɹənɵˈmeɪʒə/ uncommon

noun

1.

a humorous play on words

  • “I do it for the pun of it”
  • “his constant punning irritated her”
Synonyms

Origin

From Latin paronomasia, from Ancient Greek παρονομασία (paronomasía, “play upon words which sound alike”), from παρα- (para-) + ὀνομασία (onomasía, “naming”).

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.