double entendre
UK/dubl ɑ̃tɑ̃ːdɹə//dʌbəl ɑnˈtɑndrə/
double entendre noun: a phrase that has two meanings, especially where one is innocent and literal, the other risqué, bawdy, or ironic; an innuendo.
Noun
double entendre (plural double entendres or (nonstandard) doubles entendres or (nonstandard) double entendre)
- A phrase that has two meanings, especially where one is innocent and literal, the other risqué, bawdy, or ironic; an innuendo.
- Avoid all equivocal expressions, usually denominated double entendre; they are certain proofs of a mean and indelicate mind.1812, A treatise on politeness, tr. from the French by a lady, page 172
- It is a momentous crusade without the cross; and an insidious one, for the calumnies and double entendre against the church are well wrapped up and keenly distributed.1891, Paulist Fathers, Catholic World, page 785
double entendre meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Arabic
double entendre in Tamil
- இரட்டுற மொழிதல், இரட்டை அர்த்தச் சொல், சொற்றொடர்
double entendre in Urdu
- ذومعنی
double entendre in Malayalam
- double meaning, ambiguity, innuendo
- ദ്വയാർത്ഥപ്രയോഗം, ഉഭയാർത്ഥം, അവ്യക്തത, സന്ദിക്ദ്ധാർത്ഥത, അനിശ്ചിതത്വം, ദ്വയാർത്ഥം
double entendre in Arabic
- phrase with two meanings
- تَوْرِيَة tawriya
More languagesFewer languages
- double entendre in Thai
- คำพูดสองแง่สองง่าม kam-pûut-sɔ̌ɔng-ngɛ̂ɛ-sɔ̌ɔng-ngâam
Examples of double entendre in a sentence
- It is not only the teacher's play with single words, phrases, and double entendre that are common in my classroom data.2000, James P. Lantolf, Sociocultural Theory and Second Language Learning, page 126:
- (There are no double entendres in France, where the phrase does not exist or make sense.)2016 October 13, Matthew Anderson, “The foreign words that seem like English – but aren’t”, in BBC, archived from the original on 14 Nov...
Forms of double entendre
| plural | double entendres |
|---|---|
| plural (nonstandard) | doubles entendres |
| plural (nonstandard) | double entendre |
Origin of double entendre
According to Merriam-Webster and OED, from rare and obsolete French double entendre, which literally meant "double meaning" and was used in the senses of "double understanding" or "ambiguity", but acquired its current suggestive twist after being first used in English in 1673 by John Dryden. From French double (“double”) + entendre (“to understand, to mean”). The phrase has not been used in French for centuries and would be ungrammatical in modern French, therefore making it a pseudo-Gallicism. The closest modern equivalents are double sens, which often has (but not always) the suggestiveness of the English expression, and sous-entendu which implies a subtext.
Questions about double entendre
- What does double entendre mean?
- Double entendre means a phrase that has two meanings, especially where one is innocent and literal, the other risqué, bawdy, or ironic; an innuendo.
- What is double entendre in Tamil?
- Double entendre in Tamil is இரட்டுற மொழிதல், இரட்டை அர்த்தச் சொல், சொற்றொடர். See Double entendre meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use double entendre in a sentence?
- It is not only the teacher's play with single words, phrases, and double entendre that are common in my classroom data.
- What part of speech is double entendre?
- Double entendre is a noun.
- How do you pronounce double entendre?
- Double entendre is pronounced /dubl ɑ̃tɑ̃ːdɹə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of double entendre?
- The plural of double entendre is double entendres.
Words near double entendre in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: double entendre (page history and authors); double entendre (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); double entendre (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); double entendre (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-double entendre.ogg, en-au-double entendre.ogg.
Cite this entry: “double entendre.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/double_entendre. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.