Link Centre Dictionary

pun

UK/pʊn/ US/pʌn/ fairly common
noun (1) verb (1)

noun

1.

a humorous play on words

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

verb

1.

make a play on words

  • “Japanese like to pun--their language is well suited to punning”

Origin

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.

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.