pun

Figure of speech, a play on words, or double meaning that is technically known as paronomasia (Greek ‘adapted meaning’). Double meaning can be accidental, often resulting from homonymy, or the multiple meaning of words; puns, however, are deliberate, intended as jokes or as clever and compact remarks.

The success of a pun is a matter of taste; if an ominous horoscope is called a ‘horrorscope’ or a genetic experiment is characterized as producing ‘designer genes’, this may or may not be regarded as witty or useful. Puns may depend on either the sound or the look of a word, or may require some modification of the words in question to produce their effect (for example, a political meeting described as ‘coming apart at the themes’, echoing ‘seams’).