pun
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pun¹
- /pʌn/ US, UK
- /pʊn/ Ireland, Northern England
Rhymes with -ʌn
Where it comes from
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.
verb puns · punning · punned
- To beat; strike with force; to ram; to pound, as in a mortar; reduce to powder, to pulverize. He would pun thee into shivers with his fist.
- To make or tell a pun; to make a play on words. We punned about the topic until all around us groaned.
noun puns
-
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.
The pun is the lowest form of wit.
Similar: paronomasia, play on words
pun²
- /pʌn/ US, UK
- /pʊn/ Ireland, Northern England
Rhymes with -ʌn
Where it comes from
From the McCune-Reischauer romanization of Korean 분 (bun), from Chinese 分 (“fen”).
noun puns · pun
- Alternative form of bun (“Korean unit of measure”).
pun³
- /pʌn/ US, UK
- /pʊn/ Ireland, Northern England
Rhymes with -ʌn
Where it comes from
From Hindi [Term?].
noun puns · pund
- A certain number of cowries, generally 80. Hackeries and carriages, loaded and empty, 8 annas. Sheep, goats, &c., 1 pun of cowries each.
Pun⁴
proper noun Puns
- A surname.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: wordplay, jab, game, pin, groaner, bin, joke, semi, disk, plate, half, liquidation, phan, bon, pan, poon
Translations
Every language
verb to make or tell a pun
| Español | alburear |
|---|---|
| Português | fazer um trocadilho, trocadilhar |
| Deutsch | kalauern |
noun joke or type of wordplay
| Español | calambur, albur, retruécano |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 말장난 maljangnan |
| 日本語 | 駄洒落, 洒落, 語呂合わせ goroawase |
| 中文 | 雙關語 /双关语 shuāngguānyǔ, 俏皮話 /俏皮话 qiàopihuà |
| Português | trocadilho, chalaça |
| Français | calembour, jeu de mots |
| Deutsch | Wortspiel, Kalauer |
| Italiano | gioco di parole, bisticcio, freddura |
| Ελληνικά | λογοπαίγνιο logopaígnio |
| Română | calambur, joc de cuvinte |
| Русский | каламбу́р kalambúr, игра́ слов igrá slov |
| العربية | لُعْبَة اَلْكَلِمَات luʕbat al-kalimāt, جِنَاس jinās |
| עברית | מִשְׂחַק מִלִּים misḥáq milím, לָשׁוֹן נוֹפֵל עַל לָשׁוֹן lashón nofél 'al lashón |
Talk about this word "pun." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/pun. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. pun. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/pun "pun." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/pun.Cite this
@misc{pun_2026,
title = {pun},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/pun},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
