jeu d'esprit
- noun
- /ʒø dɛspri/
- Literature
:
jeu d'esprit
- Her latest novel is a delightful jeu d'esprit, filled with clever wordplay and playful humor.
Examples
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The film is a jeu d'esprit that cleverly satirizes modern life while entertaining viewers.
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It was a misfired jeu d'esprit.
Blog text (22) -
We now have a new and extraordinarily full commentary by Helen Vendler, who calls the poem a jeu d'esprit and "a little myth of origin": nature.
Academic text (1998) -
In his speech, he included a witty jeu d'esprit that made the audience laugh.
Synonyms
5
7.2
A clever short remark meant to make people laugh
4
9.3
A clever short comment that makes people laugh
A quick, clever comment that is slightly cheeky
How Witty
Surface Forms
Morphology
jeu + d'esprit
The literal parts 'jeu' (game/play) + 'd'esprit' (of spirit/mind) yield a compositional sense like 'play of the mind', which plausibly maps onto a witty or playful remark. However, this is a lexicalized French loan with a specific nuance of light-hearted cleverness that a learner who only knows the literal constituents may not fully predict, so the relation is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Jeu d'esprit comes from French and literally joins jeu and esprit, words that mean 'game' and 'mind'. Imagine a short, playful 'game of the mind' where a writer makes a quick, clever line to amuse people, and that's why the phrase means a small 'witty' or 'playful' remark.