pun

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: pŭn, IPA^(key): /pʌn/
• (Northern England, Ireland) IPA^(key): /pʊn/
• Rhymes: -ʌn

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

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.

pun (third-person singular simple present puns, present participle punning, simple past and past participle punned)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To beat; strike with force; to ram; to pound, as in a mortar; reduce to powder, to pulverize.
   • c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

     He would pun thee into shivers with his fist.

2. (intransitive) To make or tell a pun; to make a play on words.

   We punned about the topic until all around us groaned.

pun (plural puns)

1. 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.

   Synonyms: paronomasia, play on words

   Hypernym: joke

   Hyponym: antanaclasis

   The pun is the lowest form of wit.

   • 1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter VI, in Mansfield Park: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 124:

     "Certainly, my home at my uncle's brought me acquainted with a circle of admirals. Of Rears, and Vices, I saw enough. Now do not be suspecting me of a pun, I entreat."

     Austen was likely referring to flogging or spanking, then common naval punishments, known as le vice anglais.

From the McCune-Reischauer romanization of Korean 분 (bun), from Chinese 分 (“fen”).

pun (plural puns or pun)

1. (Korean units of measure) Alternative form of bun (“Korean unit of measure”)

From Hindi [Term?].

• pund

pun (plural puns)

1. (India, historical) A certain number of cowries, generally 80.
   • 1864, The Regulations of the Bengal Code in Force in September 1862, page 1019:

     Hackeries and carriages, loaded and empty, 8 annas. Sheep, goats, &c., 1 pun of cowries each.

• Henry Yule, A[rthur] C[oke] Burnell (1903) “pun”, in William Crooke, editor, Hobson-Jobson […] , London: John Murray, […].

• N-up, NPU, UPN, nup

pun

1. because

• puan
• pen (Ragusan dialect)

From Latin pānis, pānem.

pun m

1. (Vegliot) bread

From Proto-Malayic *puhun (compare Malay pohon), from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *puqun, from Proto-Austronesian *puqun.

• IPA^(key): [pun]

pun

1. tree (large woody plant)

Inherited from Malay pun.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpun/, [ˈpun]
• Hyphenation: pun

pun

1. also, too

   Synonym: juga

2. even, though, although, nevertheless

   Synonyms: biar, meski, kendati, saja

3. besides
4. any, every

• “pun” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Inherited from Proto-Philippine *puqun, Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *puqun, from Proto-Austronesian *puqun. Compare Tagalog puno, Malay pohon, Indonesian pohon.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpun/ [ˈpun]

pun

1. trunk of a tree
2. origin, source

   Synonym: ibat

• pon (informal, slang)

Probably from Proto-Austronesian *pa (“still, first, yet”)

• (Johor-Selangor) IPA^(key): /pon/
• (Riau-Lingga) IPA^(key): /pʊn/
• Rhymes: -on
• Rhymes: -un

pun (Jawi spelling ڤون)

1. also
2. even

• juga

• -pun

• Indonesian: pun

• “pun” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

• IPA^(key): [pun]

pun

1. inflection of pune:
   1. first-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. third-person plural present indicative

Borrowed from Latin punicus.

pun m (plural puni)

1. Punic, Carthaginian

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *pьlnъ, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *pílˀnas, from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós.

• IPA^(key): /pûn/

pȕn (Cyrillic spelling пу̏н, definite pȕnī)

1. full, filled
   • 1980s, Max Vincent AKA Miša Mihajlović (lyrics and music), “Beogradska Devojka”:

     Tako drska i obesna si ti / ti si puna ljubavi

     You are so arrogant and rude / you are full of love

2. fleshy, plump
3. full, complete
4. occupied (of room)

• IPA^(key): /ˈpun/ [ˈpũn]
• Rhymes: -un
• Syllabification: pun

pun m (uncountable)

1. (onomatopoeia) the sound of discharging a firearm

   Synonym: pum

2. (onomatopoeia, vulgar) the sound of flatulence

• “pun”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28