paronomasia

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

• IPA^(key): /pæɹənɵˈmeɪzɪə/, /pæɹənɵˈmeɪʒə/

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paronomasia (countable and uncountable, plural paronomasias)

1. (rhetoric) A pun or play on words.
   • 1936 Ian Hay: Housemaster. London Hodder & Stoughton p. 234

     Oh, by the way, any attempt to present me with any kind of testimonial will result in stern measures.
     And when I say stern measures, I am indulging in a paronomasia, or play on words! Good night.

   • 1997, Thomas Pynchon, Mason & Dixon:

     Ev’rywhere but at Norfolk, where talk of Passion far outweighs its Enactment,– indeed, the Sailors’ paronomasia for that wretched Place,
     is ‘No-Fuck’.

2. (rhetoric) The use of puns.
   • 1835, L[arret] Langley, “[Rhetorical Turns.] Paronomasia.”, in A Manual of the Figures of Rhetoric, […], Doncaster, South Yorkshire: […] C. White, […], →OCLC, page 88:

     Paronomasia to the sense alludes,
     When words but little varied it includes.

   • 1984, Anthony Burgess, Enderby's Dark Lady:

     […] he gloomily regarded his new digital watch, faintly fascinated by the onward march of the square figures
     which turned one into the other with insolent ease, a kind of numerical paronomasia.

• paronomasiac
• paronomasic
• paronomastic

• Silva Rhetoricae

From Latin paronomasia.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɑronoˌmɑsiɑ/, [ˈpɑ̝ro̞no̞ˌmɑ̝s̠iɑ̝]
• Rhymes: -ɑsiɑ
• Syllabification^(key): pa‧ro‧no‧ma‧si‧a
• Hyphenation^(key): pa‧rono‧masia

paronomasia

1. paronomasia

From Latin paronomasia.

paronomasia f (plural paronomasie)

1. paronomasia

• paronomastico

• paronomasia in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

From Ancient Greek παρονομασία (paronomasía, “play upon words which sound alike”).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [pa.rɔ.nɔˈma.si.a]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [pa.ro.noˈmaː.s̬i.a]

paronomasia f (genitive paronomasiae); first declension

1. A figure of speech; pun or play on words which sound alike but have different meanings, paronomasia.

First-declension noun.

• (paronomasia): agnōminātiō

• Catalan: paronomàsia
• French: paronomase
• English: paronomasia
• Italian: paronomasia
• Portuguese: paronomásia
• Spanish: paronomasia

• “paronomasia”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• paronomasia in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “paronomasia”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Ryan Stark, Rhetoric, Science, and Magic in Seventeenth-Century England (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2009), 190-95.

• IPA^(key): /paɾonoˈmasja/ [pa.ɾo.noˈma.sja]
• Rhymes: -asja
• Syllabification: pa‧ro‧no‧ma‧sia

paronomasia f (plural paronomasias)

1. paronomasia

• “paronomasia”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024