play on words | Idiomator

Meaning: (idiomatic)Apun, or similarhumoroususe oflanguagesuch as adouble entendre.Synonym:paronomasia1794,Mr. Malone's Edition of Shakſpeare's Works, inThe Monthly Review Or Literary Journal Enlarged[2nd Series], Volume 13, R. Griffiths,page 265,Mr. Steevens alſo, influenced we ſuppoſe by the authority of Dr. Farmer, ſeems by the way in which he regulates the line in his new edition, to think that Shakſpeare here meaned no more than aplay on words.1897, Jas. W. Tupper,English Drama: Das Wortspiel bei Shakspere, von Leopold Wurth, A. Marshall Elliott (managing editor),Modern Language Notes, Volume XII,page 171,There are two general classes under which all the examples are grouped:plays on wordswhich are due to a double meaning, and the plays merely on sound (die Laut- oder Klaugspiele). The term for the latter group Dr. Wurth gives aspuns, punnings.1988, Linda S. Myrsiades,The Karagiozis Heroic Performance in Greek Shadow Theater,University Press of New England,page234:19. The originalplay on wordshere is betweenfurlani(decree) andhurlani(date).

Examples:

EN: - Yes, but do you get the play on words?
ES: - Sí, pero ¿comprendes la rima?
EN: - You don't need a play on words.
ES: Vamos, no hace falta que rime, Jimmy.
EN: It's a play on words.
ES: Tiene rima.
EN: Just a play on words.
ES: Sólo un juego de palabras.
EN: That's a little play on words.
ES: Es un jueguecito de palabras.
EN: It's a play on words!
ES: - ¡Silencio!
EN: - Just a little play on words.
ES: - Sólo es un juego de palabras.
EN: Of course, if you want to play on words.
ES: ¡Claro, si quiere jugar con las palabras!
EN: Oh, same play on words.
ES: Oh, lo mismo de siempre.
EN: Just a little play on words.
ES: Un pequeño juego de palabras.
EN: Gosh, what a tricky play on words.
ES: Qué complicado juego de palabras. - ¿Cuál es el juego de Tragalibros?
EN: A play on words, Sandman.
ES: Un juego de palabras, Hombre de Arena.
EN: That's what's called a revolution, no play on words intended.
ES: A eso se le conoce como revolución...
EN: There follows an untranslatable play on words with the use of local idiomatic expressions.
ES: A continuación sigue un juego de palabras intraducible con el uso de expresiones idiomáticas locales.
EN: What is it called, if I may use a French play on words is it a masterpiece?
ES: ¿ Cómo se llama, si se me permite un juego de palabras francés este chef-d'oeuvre?

Note: the examples for non latin scripts have a high likelihood of mistakes, we do not own any of this data and it is sourced from Wiktionary, the NLLB database and Opensubtitles. Please help us improve this by contributing correct examples. We will be working to fix this issue over time however it is a bigger issue due to the the difficulties in dealing with non latin scripts and grammatical structures(non-romantic/european languages have lower resources as well ).