🇯🇵Japanese Source WordCode: JA

言葉遊び

Pronunciation / Transliteration: kotoba asobi

🇬🇧 Direct English Meaning:
Wordplay/ˈwɜːrdˌpleɪ/
nounCEFR B2 (Upper)Top #1500 frequency
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🇯🇵 Example Sentence in Japanese:

"彼のパフォーマンスは言葉遊びでいっぱいだった。"

Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

2 senses
As noun
  1. 1

    The witty or clever use of words to create humor or a play on words.

    "The comedian's routine was filled with clever wordplay that had the audience laughing."
  2. 2

    A form of verbal humor that exploits the multiple meanings of words or similar-sounding words.

    "The pun was a classic example of wordplay that made the joke even funnier."

Thesaurus & Semantic Spectrum

Antonyms & Contrasting Words (1)

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

The term 'wordplay' is derived from the combination of 'word', which comes from Old English 'word', and 'play', from Old English 'plega'. The concept evolved in the late 19th century to describe clever or humorous use of language.

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