pun
/pʌn/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Ireland/pʊn/
pun verb: to beat; strike with force; to ram; to pound, as in a mortar; reduce to powder, to pulverize. Also the alternative form of bun.
Verb
pun (third-person singular simple present puns, present participle punning, simple past and past participle punned)
- To beat; strike with force; to ram; to pound, as in a mortar; reduce to powder, to pulverize.
- He would pun thee into shivers with his fist.c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- To make or tell a pun; to make a play on words.
- We punned about the topic until all around us groaned.
Noun (1)
pun (plural puns)
- 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.
- The pun is the lowest form of wit.
- "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."1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter VI, in Mansfield Park: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 124
- Synonyms:
- paronomasia, play on words
Noun (2)
pun (plural puns)
- A certain number of cowries, generally 80.
- Hackeries and carriages, loaded and empty, 8 annas. Sheep, goats, &c., 1 pun of cowries each.1864, The Regulations of the Bengal Code in Force in September 1862, page 1019
Proper noun capitalized: Pun
Pun (plural Puns)
- A surname.
Also used as
pun is also the alternative form of bun.
pun meaning in Telugu, Tagalog, Arabic and Malay
pun in Telugu
- joke or type of wordplay
- శ్లేష ślēṣa
pun in Tagalog
- joke or type of wordplay
- bangkiwi, paritugma, paandar
pun in Arabic
- joke or type of wordplay
- لُعْبَة اَلْكَلِمَات laʕbat al-kalimāt, جِنَاس jinās
pun in Malay
- joke or type of wordplay
- jenakata
More languagesFewer languages
- pun in Persian
- تجنیس tajnis, جناس jenâs
Examples of pun in a sentence
- The spoonerism "Burly Chassis" is a punning reference to Shirley Bassey's voluptuous figure.
- "If you want beer puns, I can go on forever," Mac said, raising his pint glass.
- It’s a stupid pun,” said Gaze who moved to the area about 15 years ago.
Synonyms of pun
Forms of pun
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | puns |
| present participle | punning |
| past participle | punned |
| past | punned |
| Noun | |
| plural | puns |
| plural | pun |
| alternative form | pund |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Puns |
Origin of pun
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.
From the McCune-Reischauer romanization of Korean 분 (bun), from Chinese 分 (“fen”).
From Hindi [Term?].
Words formed from pun
Phrases with pun
Words that rhyme with pun
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- rerun
- stun
- nun
- shun
- 'un
- Gunn
- jump the gun
- none
- outrun
- overdone
- begun
- dun
- fun
- hon
- speedrun
- thon
- undone
- unspun
- verdun
- winter sun
- 1
- 101
- 26+6=1
- cun
- dun dun dun
- everyone
- hard-won
- have one's mind about one
- hot cross bun
- marble run
- misdone
- mun
- Munn
- old one
- one hundred and one
- one thousand and one
- organ gun
- outdone
- outgun
- over and done
- quaker gun
- redone
- respun
- rewon
- snatch and run
- spun
- steam gun
- temperature gun
Questions about pun
- What does pun mean?
- Pun means to beat; strike with force; to ram; to pound, as in a mortar; reduce to powder, to pulverize.
- What is pun in Telugu?
- Pun in Telugu is శ్లేష (ślēṣa). See Pun meaning in Telugu.
- What part of speech is pun?
- Pun can be a verb, a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce pun?
- Pun is pronounced /pʌn/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of pun?
- The past tense of pun is punned.
Words near pun in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: pun (page history and authors); Pun (page history and authors). 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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-pun.wav.
Cite this entry: “pun.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pun. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.