pun

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

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) To beat; strike with force; to ram; to pound, as in a mortar; reduce to powder, to pulverize.
   • Shakespeare:

     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 senses or sounds of two words or phrases, or different senses of the same word, are deliberately confused.

   Synonyms: paronomasia, play on words

   Hypernym: joke

   Hyponym: antanaclasis

   • 1814 July, [Jane Austen], chapter VI, in Mansfield Park: A Novel. In Three Volumes, volume I, London: Printed for T[homas] Egerton, […], OCLC 39810224, 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.

   The pun is the lowest form of wit.

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: a Korean unit of length equivalent to about 0.3 cm.

• UPN, nup

pun

1. because

• puan
• pen (Ragusan dialect)

From Latin pānis, pānem.

pun m

1. (Vegliot) bread

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

pun (Jawi spelling ڤون)

1. also

• juga

• -pun

• IPA^(key): [pun]

pun

1. first-person singular present indicative of pune
2. first-person singular present subjunctive of pune
3. third-person plural present indicative of pune

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

• IPA^(key): /pûn/

pȕn (definite pȕnī, Cyrillic spelling пу̏н)

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

pun m (uncountable)

1. (onomatopoeia) The sound of discharging a firearm
2. (onomatopoeia, vulgar) The sound of flatulence

• pum