Word Play

Acrostic

a composition, usually verse, arranged in such a way that it spells words, phrases, or sentences when certain letters are selected according to an orderly sequence.

Idiom

a use of words peculiar to a given language; an expression that cannot be translated literally. Ex: "to carry out."

Ananym

a word fabricated by spelling another word backward.

Acronym

a word formed by combining the initial letters or syllables of a series of words to form a name, as "radar," from "radio detecting and ranging."

Anagram

a word or phrase made by transposing the letters of another, as "cask" is an anagram of "sack."

Logogriph

a word puzzle in which a clue is a synonym of a word to be guessed, along with anagrams. "Yellow fish," for example, might lead to "amber bream."

Catchword

a word so often repeated that it is identified with a person or object; also the word printed at the top of a column or page to indicate the first or last word on that page.

Heteronym

a word spelled the same as another but pronounced and defined differently, such as "does" (a verb) and "does" (a noun).

Fractal

a word that is part of another word, significant only when there is some possible meaning in the containment.

Paragram

a word that resembles another and is used in its place for the sake of euphemism, apotropaic deformation, insult, avoidance of libel, or some other purpose. Ex: "Gad," "gosh," and "golly" in place of "God."

Anastomosis

scientific term for the interconnection between two entities, such as vessels, channels, or cavities; hence, the folding of one word between parts of another, as in Joyce's "underdarkneath" in Ulysses.

Vulgaria

a collective term for items considered vulgar (however defined) in a given collection, as in descriptions of "the vulgaria in Pepys's library."

Lipogram

a kind of writing in which words containing certain letters of the alphabet are not used; the challenge is greater if the letter is a vowel.

Bouts-Rimes

a literary game in which players are given lists of rhyming words and are expected to write impromptu verses with the rhymes in the order given; a popular pastime of the Bluestockings in England.

Hiatus

a pause or break between two vowel sounds not separated by a consonant; the opposite of elision.

Meta

a prefix often applied by contemporary critics to various literary terms, forming such words as metacriticism and metafiction.

Misreading

a reading that makes a mistake in perception or interpretation. A sign reading "FINE FOR FISHING" could be interpreted that it is a fine place for fishing or that you would be fined for fishing.

Howler

a small error that begins in innocence or ignorance and ends in folly and potential embarrassment.

Cryptarithm

a sophisticated puzzle in which letters of the alphabet are assigned a numerical value so that a spelled-out formula is true of both the words and the numbers.

Cabal

an English word derived from the French cabale ("cabala") and given added impact by a false or popular etymology construing it as an acronym formed from the first letters of the names of Charles II's unpopular ministry, Clifford, Ashley, Buckingham, Arlington, and Lauderdale; hence an acrostic.

Spoonerism

an accidental interchange of sounds, usually the initial consonants, in two or more words, such as "blushing crow" for "crushing blow."

Telestich

an acrostic in which the final letters form a word.

Mesostich

an acrostic in which the middle letters form a word.

Abecedarius

an acrostic, the initial letters of whose successive lines form the alphabet.

Malapropsim

an inappropriateness of speech resulting from the use of one word for another, which resembles it. It is named for Mrs. Malaprop, in Sheridan's The Rivals, who said such things as "a progeny of learning."

Blends

another name for portmanteau words.

Hypocorism

pet names, usually for children, but also shown in locutions such as Ezra Pound's "Tommy Jeff" for "Thomas Jefferson."

Anaphone

the acoustic counterpart of the anagram. In an anaphone, the sounds composing one word of phrase are rearranged to make another word or phrase. Ex: IN "this is a universe very soon," the sounds of "very soon" and "universe" are nearly the same.

Hieronymy

the idea of a sacred name and naming, more recently applied to any special name for persons, place, god, days, months, and so forth.

Paregmenon

the same as polyptoton; the use of two different words derived from the same root, as in this passage from Frost's "Directive": "Your destination and your destiny's/A brook...."

Coined Words

words consciously manufactured, as opposed to those entering the language as a result of some more usual process of language development.

Portmanteau Words

words formed by telescoping two words into one, as the making of "smog" from "smoke" and "fog."

Palindrome

writing that reads the same from left to right and from right to left, such as the word "civic."