Pun vs Alliteration - What's the difference?
pun | alliteration |
To beat; strike with force; ram; pound, as in a mortar; reduce to powder.
* Shakespeare
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.
* {{quote-book
, title=(Mansfield Park)
, last=Austen
, first=Jane
, authorlink=Jane Austen
, year=1814
*:Comment : Austen was likely referring to spanking/flogging, then common naval punishments, known as (le vice Anglais) .
To make or tell a pun; make a play on words.
The repetition of consonants at the beginning of two or more words immediately succeeding each other, or at short intervals.
The recurrence of the same letter in accented parts of words, as in Anglo-Saxon alliterative meter.
As nouns the difference between pun and alliteration
is that pun is 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 while alliteration is the repetition of consonants at the beginning of two or more words immediately succeeding each other, or at short intervals.As a verb pun
is to beat; strike with force; ram; pound, as in a mortar; reduce to powder.pun
English
(wikipedia pun)Etymology 1
From (etyl) . More at (l).Verb
- He would pun thee into shivers with his fist.
Etymology 2
From a special use of Etymology 1 .Noun
(en noun)citation, volume=one, chapter VI , publisher= }}
- "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."
Usage notes
* Because some puns are based on pronunciation, puns are more obvious when spoken aloud. For example: “This rock is gneiss, but don’t take it for granite.” This reads (with a US accent) similarly to “This rock is nice, but don’t take it for granted.” (Both “gneiss” and “granite” are types of rock.)Synonyms
* See alsoVerb
- We punned about the topic until all around us groaned.