Words · Common
pun
/pʌn/ · 3 letters · 3 distinct letters
- noun
a humorous play on words
I do it for the pun of it
- verb
make a play on words
Japanese like to pun, their language is well suited to punning
Word history
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 Wiktionary, under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 4.0
Why this word counts
- Where it comes from
- Listed in the English Speller Database at size 35: the core list of everyday words.
- How common it is
- Used about 4 times in every million words.
- In the spelling bee
- Not playable Too short for the spelling bee, where words have four letters or more.